Activation seal
by QuadEratDemonstandum
Summary: Crazy hijinx in Shippuden! Somethings changed recently and it's team 10! But What has happened? Why are they targeting team 7? And why do peoples clothes keep dissapearing when they spar with Ino? Rated M for sexual refences, though no lemons.
1. Prologue Sleepover

Activation Seal - Prologue

A/N: Hello, hello, hello, hello! And welcome! a little while ago a few friends and I had a few ideas about how Naruto could be made better and came up with some very interesting results! Welcome to a story filled with Fun, humour and arson! I hope you all enjoy the crazy things that come out of the deranged minds that belong to myself and my friends.

Who knew that those two words would bring such pain!

~Q.E.D

* * *

Shikamaru awoke. His face was covered in sweat and he was finding it hard to breathe. Pulling himself to a sitting position on his bed the young chunin looked to his left. Ino and Chouji were lying on the floor, they appeared to be in a similar state to himself, though to different degrees of severity. Ino looked like death, her face pale and she was shivering slightly, Chouji on the other hand had been barely affected, his face was shiny from the sweat but not much else appeared wrong.

"You guys feel that too?" Shikamaru asked, his face worried, whatever it was, it had felt _weird..._

Choji nodded absently "It was like suddenly everything made sense for a second, Sasuke leaving, Naruto and Sakura going training for three years with lord Jaraya, all of it."

"I feel different too, not physically but, you know, mentally. What the hell's going on!" Ino muttered, wiping the sweat off with a hankerchief.

"... Mindfuck." As the words came out of Chouji's mouth, he could tell they described it perfectly.

A small smirk appeared on Shika's face, and his eyes lit up, as he pulled himself into his thinking position and closing his eyes, his friends fell silent, knowing that something good was about to happen. Almost 10 minutes later the eyes opened again, a calm sureity present in them again.

"Well?" Ino asked impatiently, the sense of anticipation making her excited.

"I have a plan." Hearing the young genius say this Chouji grinned, pulling out a bag of chips.

"I have a good feeling about this." he mock whispered conspiritally to Ino, she giggled, he always knew how to lighten the mood.

"We were told Naruto, Jiraiya and Sakura will be back in three years right?" The patented Nara smirk appeared on his face again. "Well wouldn't it be fun to have some surprises waiting for them when they get home?"

"I'm not adverse to the idea, but don't you think we would need a reason to screw with team 7?" Ino asked critically.

"Well, we all have our reasons to mess with them, ranging from Naruto being annoying to you wanting to screw with Sakura." Shika countered.

Ino held a finger up, stopping him in his tracks. "No, I want to screw Sakura, not screw with her, theres a difference."

"Both can be acomplished."

"We are going to completely ruin their lives..." Chouji murmured, a huge grin spreading across his face. "I love it."

"Alright then Shika, you're the man with the plan, what do we do?" Ino asked, warming up to the idea.

The night that followed was filled with elaborate planning and team ten's ramblings about what they considered funny, by the time dawn broke, they were all set. When Naruto and Sakura walked back through the gates of Konoha everything would be ready. They had decided to include Kakashi in the tactical analysis, if they were going to target his students they might as well try and get him as well, he'd stop them otherwise.

Their time well spent, they lay back, deciding to sleep in and begin the plan in the afternoon, as they were drifting off Chouji said the only thing that could appropriatly describe what they were going to do to team 7.

"Mindfuck."

* * *

A/N: What fun! We will get some nuts stuff here as it goes on, I wont always do authors notes but i thought it best to give a little intro to my fun new story.

~QED


	2. Chapter 1  Homecoming

Activation seal, Chapter one

As they walked through the gate, team 7 stopped. Looking at each other they realised what they had done, over the last three years so much had happened and yet here they were, back at the where they had started.

It was almost poetic.

Not looking up from his magazine Kotetsu muttered the rehearsed line in a bored monotone. "State your name and intention."

"Jiraiya, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Hurano Sakura... and guess."

After Kotetsu had managed to pull himself up off of the floor and had stopped blabbering about what Tsunade would do to him if she found out he wasn't concentrating on gate duty again the four were ushered through the gate and told to report to the Hokage at their earliest convenience.

The two ANBU members that had kindly offered to escort them informed them that their earliest convenience was now.

* * *

The Godaime was seated in her office awaiting the returnees with more than a little anticipation. Since Jiraiya had left with Naruto and Sakura had managed to convince the two loyal Sanin to let her go along too she hadn't heard anything from them until she had had a toad hop into her office, staring a minor crisis when it accidentally set fire to several mission reports and almost destroying the Hokage mansion when it accidentally burped some toad oil onto the flames.

The message had been short and succinct; "Mission complete. We're coming home."

The door opened and team seven filed in, including the one person she hadn't been expecting.

"What the hell is Sasuke doing here?"

The other sanin smiled sardonically "Hello Tsu-hime, it's good to see you too, yes the mission did go well, thank you for as-" his deadpan remark would have been more cutting if the expertly thrown empty Sake bottle hadn't knocked him out.

"I asked you a question numbskull."

Looking down at his teacher for the previous three years with a surprisingly nutual expression Naruto poked the toad Sanin with his foot.

"I don't think he can hear you grandma."

"He's be fine, he's just being a baby." She replied.

"He's bleeding." Sakura noted dispassionately.

"It's just a flesh wound?" She said hopefully.

"I think I see cranial fluid too." Sasuke added helpfully.

"Shit."

* * *

Hidden and watching from outside the window Shikamaru smiled, they were back, and team 10 could finally begin their fun.

Jumping off silently he sent out a chakra pulse, unique to team 10's communication system and encoded with a single message: "They're home."

Landing outside Ichiraku's he sat down in front of where Teuchi was standing, and his smile became a grin.

"Team 7's back, plan A is initiated."

The portly ramen stall owner nodded understandingly

"Anything different I should know about."

"Sasukes with them but that's my problem, not yours." Shikamaru replied.

Teuchi smiled. "Have fun."

"I intend to."

Team 7 left the Hokage's office, their day had already been eventful despite the fact that it was only around noon, stopping at the street corner Sasuke turned to the other two.

"So what should we do today children? Due to Jiraiya's 'sudden injuries' the Hokage didn't assign us a mission and to be frank, I'm bored." There was a slightly ominous pause. "We all know what happens when I get bored."

Naruto grinned "You betray the village to go see a paedophile with a snake fetish and we have to drag your sorry arse home?"

"... That only happened one time."

"I think he was referring to the fact that things seem to 'Spontaneously combust' when he's bored Naruto." Sakura interjected, trying to diffuse the situation quietly.

"Oh that." The blonde replied waving his hand dismissively.

"ANYWAY, is there anywhere you two want to go before we go see Kakashi-sensei?"

"RAMEN, RAMEN, RAMEN." Naruto shouted excitedly.

"Surprise surprise..." Sasuke snarked, smirking.

"Come on, PLEASE? I'll pay for you guys if we can go!" Naruto begged, almost drooling at thought of his favourite meal.

Sasuke grinned evilly "Why Dobe, are you asking me on a date? I mean I'm flattered and all but I don't swing that way."

"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND ALL THESE GAY JOKES TEME!" Naruto bellowed stepping away from the Uchiha with a horrified look.

"Dunno, boredom maybe?" he replied.

Shaking her head Sakura looked at her team mates with a kind of pity "You're both morons..."

"Let's just go get the ramen so the dobe shuts up..."

* * *

Sitting down in Ichiraku's the returning ninja looked around, the ramen bar hadn't changed much, the walls were the same polished wood and Ayame and Teuchi were still the only two working there, though the one thing that had changed was that the oven in the back was obviously much newer.

"Hey, old man! Gimmie 4 miso, two beef and three pork!" The Orange clad nin shouted excitedly.

'_That's great, now to put the plan in motion.'_

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto, even though he normally ate alot, this was another level.

"Also give my team whatever they want."

Suddenly hunger took over, they could ponder over Naruto's ability to eat his own weight in Ramen later, this was far more important.

Sasuke ordered a large bowl of beef Ramen, while Sakura got chicken, by the time the food had arrived, the three genin were arguing about their experiences.

"You're never going to let me live that down are you?" Sasuke muttered darkly, "I make ONE mistake and suddenly it's like I killed a puppy!"

"You betrayed the entire village! You tried to kill ME! Thats much worse that killing a puppy!" Naruto bellowed back.

"STILL ONLY ONE TIME."

"Wow, the logic you come up with really scares me sometimes Sasuke." Sakura deadpanned.

Putting the food down, Teuchi grinned at his favourite customer and his team mates, "Foods up."

Naruto's smile quickly turned into a grin that threatened to cut his face in half, as he stared at the mountain of Ramen in front of him.

"AWESOME."

Without waiting for his friends to start as well, Naruto began to inhale the Ramen, some how managing to eat the pieces of meat in the dish whole.

'_Crap, I forgot how fast Naruto ate, maybe I shouldn't have put that much tranquiliser in his food, we don't want him DEAD.'_

Due to Naruto's unique way of eating food, all three members of team seven finished their lunch at the same time.

"Hey, old man, why are you looking at your watch?" Naruto asked, his curiosity piqued.

'_Because the tranquilliser I put in your Ramen should be coming into effect right about...' _

All of team seven fell face forward onto the bar, making a humorous 'thwack' as their heads hit the wood.

'_... Now'_

"No reason Naruto. No reason at all."


	3. Chapter 2 Awake

Activation Seal, Chapter Two

A/N: Okay then everybody, here we go again, this chapter was Beta'd by Mist On The Glass, and you can expect all future stuff to be beta'd by her too, thanks for reading, and please review -QED

* * *

Groggily waking from his drug induced slumber, Naruto tried (and failed) to move his arms. Everything around him was still a blur - he could make out several figures, but in his inebriated state he was unable to tell who they were. The apparent leader of the group was talking to the others and seemed to be explaining something... in a voice that was uncannily familiar.

"-nd if all goes according to plan we should have total mental breakdown in-"

"Naruto's awake," another voice cut in, this one female - again familiar.

Looking at his wrist, the leader muttered: "He's too early."

He nodded to the largest of the figures and looked towards where Naruto was tied up, showing his face.

"Shika? What the hell are you-" Naruto's question was cut off as something hit him in the back of the head, dreamland beckoning him once again.

* * *

As Sasuke and Sakura woke, they noticed their predicament in a shorter period of time compared to Naruto. Their arms and legs were bound and they were in the middle of a brightly lit room; each member of Team Seven was on a different sofa. Sitting in an armchair on the other side of the room was Nara Shikamaru, quietly reading a book with an iced drink in his hand.

Looking at each other they noted their mutual awareness, as well as Naruto's apparent lack of it. On a coffee table in between each of their sofas was their equipment, all noticeably untouched, including Sasuke's grass cutter.

Considering his options, Sasuke went through his jutsu arsenal.

'_I can easily take down Shikamaru without killing him, but I have to get these ropes off and get there fast enough to stop him from using Shadow Possession, preferably it would be best to keep him conscious so I can ask him why the hell he's kidnapped us...' _

Coming to a decision and gathering his chakra all over his body, he prepared to execute the jutsu. As the Chidori current was released, the ropes were indeed burnt away. What Sasuke hadn't counted on was the thin but strong metal wire in the centre of each rope, channelling the electrical current right back into him, shutting down his nerves and making his "rope" quite hot.

"Fuck."

Not looking up from his book Shikamaru commented: "Yeah, that probably wasn't the smartest thing you could have done."

Somehow managing to get his neck to move despite the electrical paralysis, Sasuke nodded.

"Hindsight really is a bitch."

Folding the page he was reading and closing his book, Shikamaru finally looked at the conscious two thirds of Team Seven, his usual lazy smirk etched on his face.

"You seem very calm, Sasuke."

As Shikamaru said this, the last loyal Uchiha's eyes turned bright red - three tomoe spinning rapidly as the genjutsu was cast. Sasuke grinned triumphantly as the illusion was sent to the young Nara.

However when the illusion hit Shikamaru's eyes, something unexpected happened. The genjutsu was reflected _back_.

The horrific image that Sasuke had intended for Shikamaru to see was suddenly in front of Sasuke.

Watching Sasuke scream like a little girl at a nightmare of his own creation, Shikamaru reached up and carefully removed the reflective contact lenses he was wearing.

Looking at Sakura with a slightly bored expression, he raised his eyebrow and muttered: "You going to try and escape too?"

"AAAAHHH, WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS ILLUSION? I'M COVERED IN BEEEEES!"

"No, I got the picture from what I just saw. It wouldn't really work," Sakura replied, her voice carefully restrained.

Shikamaru somehow managed to bow whilst seated, adding, "You will, of course, forgive me if I don't take your word for it?"

"IT'S LIKE THERE'S STINGERS EVERYWHERE!"

"I wouldn't really expect anything less," she muttered back, clearly annoyed. "What happened to Naruto? He seems totally out of it."

Looking at the blonde, Shikamaru's face became totally neutral.

"He woke up too early so I had Choji hit him in the back of the head with a shovel," he explained.

"NOW THEY'RE COVERING ME IN HONEY- THERE'S A BEAR COMING OUT OF THE WOODS!"

"Aren't you afraid of giving him brain damage?"

"Don't you mean _more _brain damage?" Shikamaru countered.

"Touché," Sakura conceded darkly.

"Well if I'm honest, I came upon some information that renders any sort of permanent damage out of the question."

Smirking again, Shikamaru stood up and walked over to Sasuke; throwing what was left of his drink at his face and freeing him from the jutsu.

"Ohdearlordthankyou," panted Sasuke, his face white with shock. "I won't try and escape again..."

"I would suggest not, the other traps are particularly vicious..."

Turning away from the frantically nodding Uchiha, Shikamaru picked up a kunai from the coffee table and cut the ropes away from all three of them.

"Have any of you received medical training since you went away?" Shikamaru asked, sitting back down in his armchair. Seeing Sakura put her hand up he motioned to Naruto. "I would suggest you wake him up, otherwise we'll just be waiting for him to regain consciousness and that could take-"

"-are you doing?" Naruto bellowed as he snapped upright, his eyes wide.

"Or he could just wake up randomly while I'm trying to talk," the Nara muttered, shaking his head. "Alrighty then everyone, let's get down to business. I'm guessing you're all wondering why we... um... 'removed you' from Ichiraku."

"You mean kidnapped," Naruto growled under his breath.

"Anyway. We, and by we I mean Team Ten, had a bit of an epiphany just after you left for your training. This sudden realisation showed us how weak we were as a group, as well as the fact that if we were to survive as Ninja, then we would have to get a lot stronger."

Team Seven nodded quietly, they had seen the same thing through different means, Orochimaru had shown Sasuke his full strength once during his training, the experience had left his brain screaming and his body broken for several weeks. Itachi was supposedly _much _stronger than him. Sakura and Naruto had on the other hand found out from a surprise attack by the Akatsuki member Deidara, who had decided that Naruto's capture required his 'Art.'

Though the attempt had failed, the experience had left both Genin shaken up. They knew that their strength was insufficient.

"And so, as a measure, we decided that our training needed a short term goal; that our hard work needed an aim that we could concentrate on. We each had our reasons for choosing as we did, and each of us will explain that at our own leisure."

Naruto, looking extremely confused, raised his hand before saying: "But wait a minute Shikamaru, you haven't explained what your focus _is_."

"That is very simply answered, Naruto. Our focus is being strong enough to mess with you three, mercilessly and brilliantly, without any consequences, due to grievances or aims of our choice."

Seeing their shocked and horrified faces, Shikamaru grinned.

"There is a map in the top left drawer of the dresser over there," pointing at the aforementioned furniture, Shikamaru continued with: "Go to the three designated spots on the map, at each spot a member of Team Ten is waiting to explain their part in this escapade."

His grin widening, the Genius looked at his watch, "if it helps, think of this entire scenario as an elaborate and intricate training scenario for the future. You might even learn something if you pay attention."


	4. Chapter 3 It's a what?

Activation Seal, Chapter Three

A/N: Sorry the chapter is a little late, got caught up with work and a couple of new developments. As before, beta'd by Mist On The Glass, and she also helped a lot with the Ino/Saku scenes, she's a genius with girls. (Mist: Yeah... fo'sho' 3)

Distantdreamer104: Thanks, I'm a little twisted myself so I suspect it all evens out. :)

Have fun children

~Q.E.D

* * *

As Team Seven ran towards the Hokage's office, they glanced at each other, warily. Since being released from the building they were held in, they had torn up the map Shikamaru had given them and begun sprinting towards their leader's place of work and, hopefully, a place of safety from this new insane version of Team Ten. Naruto was on point, his shadow clones spread out around the area, making sure they weren't being followed.

"Resistance is futile."

The sing-song voice came from just to Naruto's left, surprising him enough that he crashed into Sasuke both of them tumbling into the ground with a distinct lack of grace.

Ino watched the two males collide into each other with an impish grin on her face before turning to the bewildered Sakura.

"Why hello there!" She greeted cheerfully, "How you doin'?"

Her eyes wide, Sakura's reply was shaky: "I'm about three beats from a heart attack. How about you?"

"It would have been better had you followed the map Shikamaru gave you, but I'm not exactly surprised," she countered, stretching luxouriously.

"Troublesome... It would have turned out better for you had you actually listened to my instructions..." The lazy voice of Nara Shikamaru sailed down from on high like some bored God, relaying its message to earth with as little enthusiasm as possible. The young man was sitting on the edge of the nearest building, just out of Team Seven's reach. Next to him was someone they each recognised immediately.

Chouji had changed a lot in the three years Team Seven had been away; he had grown his hair much longer, as well as replacing his old headband with a red one. He was also wearing a set of Akimichi armour, signifying him to be an adult of his clan. Over the armour he wore a red silk sash, on which several small scrolls were slotted into the pouches down it.

"We had nothing to gain from following your instructions," Sasuke shot back, pulling himself up from the ground. "You kidnapped us and admitted to planning many more things that, in the future, will cause us discomfort."

"True as that may be, you have now passed up a chance to gain valuable information on what skills we have gained over the last three years, not only that but you have also disappointed us to the extent were we will retaliate within a very short space of time. Other than this, you also destroyed the map that Chouji made in his own time by hand, just to make your lives a bit easier."

As the shadow user lectured them, the other team noticed the stony expression on Chouji's face. Normally he only had this expression when someone had called him away from a meal... this did not bode well. Shikamaru reached over and took one of the scrolls from Chouji's sash, pulling himself to his feet.

"We're going to leave now," he declared, while nonchalantly biting his finger and smearing the blood onto the scroll. "Activation Seal, Good luck with the next few days, and watch out for the Polar Bear."

Failing to notice the huge white shape approaching him from behind, Naruto's face screwed up in confusion and he raised his hand.

"What Polar Be-"

* * *

On the whole, Tsunade's day had been rather eventful. Maiming Jiraiya and then subsequently healing him had taken a surprising amount of chakra; apparently the old fool had been exerting himself before the Hokage had even thrown the bottle.

Although, the situation was no longer an issue - it had all been taken care of. Tsunade had finished all of her paperwork, and now she finally had time for a bre-

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

As Naruto sailed through the wall of the Hokage building in a severely torn jacket, Tsunade realised why Murphy's Law was so well known.

Naruto pulled himself up and ran to the hole that his flying body had just made and leaned out.

"Did you get it?" He bellowed at his teammates.

"It substituted!" replied the incredulous voice of Sasuke Uchiha.

Hearing this, Naruto's eyes became significantly larger: "What the hell, it's a NINJA POLAR BEAR?"

As if to answer the unfolding madness, a gleeful voice came out of the darkness just to Naruto's left.

"MINDFUCK!"

This of course caused the blonde to fall out of the hole in surprise, tumbling towards the ground at an alarming speed.

Team Ten minus Shikamaru wandered out of the shadow, Ino grinning sadistically, Chouji calmly eating his bag of chips and Asuma smoking quietly.

"Nice one, Chouji!"

"Thanks Ino, I aim to please."

The tick mark on Tsunade's head grew rapidly, not only had her peace been disturbed, but a significant part of her secret stash had been inside the wall Naruto had flown through. Shit was going down.

"What the hell is going on? I'm going to need an explanation very quickly or someone's got guard duty for the next three years, and I normally reserve that job for Kotetsu and Izumo!"

"Troublesome..." The dry voice came from behind the Hokage: "Plan Alpha was authorised by you last year, when we tracked down several of your creditors and managed to get your loans transferred to our supervision... Tsunade-sama."

Her eyes widening comically, The Legendary Sucker looked at the young Nara, "You can't prove anything," she accused him in a hushed voice.

Throwing the folder he was holding onto the table he smirked back, "I can prove EVERYTHING."

Tsunade's reply to this was quick and succinct, pulling out a box of matches quickly and setting the folder on fire: "NOW you can't prove anything."

"That would be true, if I hadn't placed copies of that folder in several strategic places." Shikamaru deadpanned.

"God on a motherfucking pilgrimage..."

* * *

As the now severely damaged Team Seven walked towards the Hokage's office, they looked at each other. Sakura was in the best shape of the three as she hadn't engaged with the bear in close combat, instead choosing to attack it with kunai. Sasuke was still relatively alright as well, his clothing was covered in dirt but most of his wounds were superficial, though he had a nasty bruise under his left eye. Naruto on the other hand, looked much worse for wear. His orange jumpsuit was in tatters, massive claw marks raked across the front and his trousers were ripped in several places. Luckily his undershirt had survived and no cases of public indecency would be forthcoming.

Walking towards the door Sakura turned quickly, noticing a shadow from the corner of her eye.

"Hey Sakura, do you know how much that Polar Bear weighs?" Ino had a sweet smile on her face and her eyes twinkled mischeviously.

Hey expression wary and her stance guarded, Sakura decided to reply in the more obvious way: "Uh... No?"

"Enough to break the ice..." Ino covered the short distance between herself and Sakura in an instant, her hand tangling in the shorter girl's hair with iron strength. Before Sakura had time to object, Ino's lips had crashed into her own, tongues and all. She suddenly pulled back as she felt Sakura tense up, knowing a counterattack was on the cards. She jumped backwards, narrowly dodging a glowing green fist.

"Toodles!" The blonde sang happily, punctuating the act with a little wave before disappearing.

"What the hell?" Sakura screamed, slamming her powered up fist into the wall, leaving a large crater in the Hokage building wall.

Naruto and Sasuke were in a state of shock, both of the young ninja had slack jawed expressions on their faces, and were staring at their team mate in confusion.

The pinkette stopped in her tracks, turning to the two men with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you two looking at?"

* * *

Walking up to the other two players in the twisted game, Ino grinned impishly at them, spinning something on her fingertip so fast it became a blur, indiscriminating it.

"So how'd I do gentlemen?" She asked innocently.

"Hot Ino, very, very hot," Chouji replied, clapping his hands theatrically.

Bowing to him, her grin widening she chuckled evilly: "Thank you Cho, thats what I was aiming for. Any comments Shikamaru?"

The usual Nara smirk accentuated the words perfectly: "Just as planned."

The young genius looked up from the notepad he was writing on and his eyebrows quirked quizzically.

"Ino... When did you get Sakura's bra...?"

"What can I say? I'm good with my hands."

* * *

This was bad, even through all the torture they had endured over the last couple of hours, Team Seven hadn't expected it. Their leader, the woman they trusted with their LIVES had just told them something worse than anything Team Ten ever could.

"What do you mean, we have to fight Kakashi in THREE DAYS?" bellowed Naruto, while Sasuke cried in the corner.


	5. Chapter 4 War council

Activation Seal, Chapter Four

A/N: RIGHT, so here we go again! This chapter is once again beta'd by Mist On The Glass, and she also helped with other stuff too! (Mist: Like the yuri... :D) ... Yes, like the Yuri :P Though the more mundane stuff too, she mentioned I use certain verbs to much, like deadpanned and quizzically, That hopefully will be better now :P.

Have fun.

-QED

* * *

"What do you mean we have to fight Kakashi in THREE DAYS?" Naruto bellowed at the Godaime, "He's an Elite Jounin, how is that fair!"

Tsunade grinned menacingly, "I never said anything about fair. Amusing yes, but never fair."

Sasuke stopped crying and got up from the corner, walking towards the Hokage and looking her directly into her eyes.

"Sharingan!"

Forming the Genjutsu and sending it straight at the Sannin, Sasuke grinned darkly as the jutsu hit...

...Before falling forward as the illusion was sent straight back, hypnotising him.

Pointing to a small container on her desk, Tsunade smiled slightly, the bottle read: 'Reflective contact lenses'

"Was there anything else?"

Sakura took a step backwards, her eyes widening in horror.

"Oh dear god... You're one of them."

The smile turning into an evil smirk, Tsunade chose to ignore the question, "Report to training ground thirty two in three days, you have until then to train up for your big fight. Oh, and have fun!"

Naruto picked up the unconscious member of Team Seven, sighing theatrically.

"Why do you always do this, Teme? It's like you ENJOY hypnotising yourself."

"No... Comment... Dobe..." The Uchiha replied, slowly waking from the self induced trance.

* * *

The next day, the members of Team Seven gathered at training ground twelve for a council of war. Kakashi was the third most powerful ninja in the village; the only people who could stand up to him and hold their own were the Hokage, Jiraiya, and on occasion, Might Guy. To have even a chance of lasting long enough to get their skills evaluated, they needed a plan.

"Alright, so we have two days to get ready to fight Kakashi-sensei. What measures can we use to even the odds a little?" Sasuke was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the training ground, looking between his two team mates.

"I guess the first question is: What weaknesses does he have?" Naruto fiddled with grass; unable to sit still.

"Porn," Sakura and Sasuke deadpanned back in unison.

"Let me rephrase that, what USEFUL weaknesses does he have?" Naruto retorted sarcastically.

Sasuke ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully.

"Well, we've never seen him use anything other than normal kunai and shuriken, maybe he has a weakness when it comes to larger weapons?"

"It's not good to assume or speculate; Kakashi-sensei was an ANBU captain for years, he's bound to have high level of Kenjutsu," Sakura replied, shaking her head dismissively.

"Touché," the young Sharingan user replied, "Hm, he's lost to Guy-sensei before, and we know that Ninjutsu is his forte so Taijutsu is probably his weakest area, maybe we can work with that?"

"Losing to Guy-sensei at Taijutsu doesn't make you bad, it makes you human. That man is a monstrosity..." Naruto countered.

"It's the best lead we've got. Dobe, you go and see if you can get any tips on how to fight Sensei from Guy. Sakura, see if you can get anything from Jiraiya." Seeing the pinkette's quizzical expression, Sasuke explained: "He's bound to have fought Kakashi before and he's the most likely to have won out of the people in the village."

"Alright, meet back here in 3 hours?" Sakura asked.

"Right!" The other two replied, body-flickering away.

* * *

Two and a half hours later, an exhausted Naruto was the first to arrive back. Falling to the ground with a heavy thump, the young Jinchuuriki groaned quietly.

"Stupid elite Jounin and their stupid training and their stupid clones with their obvious masochistic tendencies..." He muttered under his breath, before forcing himself to stop talking about his new "Eternal Rival" and his teacher.

"A-ano... Naruto-kun..." came a quiet voice from the centre of the training ground, "You're back?"

Hinata Hyuuga had changed a lot in three years, now standing nearly five foot three inches and wearing a lavender hooded jacket and blue ninja pants. Her hair was longer as well, now long enough to reach bellow her shoulders, even when tied in the ponytail she wore for training.

Looking up from his position on the floor, Naruto grinned up at the stuttering heiress.

"We got back yesterday!" He declared excitedly, "It all went awesome but we have to fight Kakashi-sensei in two days and we have no idea how we can win."

"I-I w-wouldn't think you CAN win Naruto-kun," she replied, a small smile on her face, "I think that you're just supposed to s-show what you've learnt over the last three years..."

Rolling over so he could see her eyes clearly and pushing himself into a sitting position, the blonde tilted his head questioningly, still grinning.

"I get that, but what's the point of fighting if you aren't trying your hardest to win?"

Before Hinata could reply, Sasuke landed next to her; his white Uchiha shirt torn in several places and scratched in others, but his body miraculously unharmed. He was carrying a sack full of assorted weapons and scrolls and had a bemused look on his face.

"Hey Sasuke, what happened to you?" Naruto asked, an amused expression on his face.

"It turns out the Hokage had... neglected to inform the village that I was back on our side now," he muttered back, "Tenten took my presence in her shop... badly."

"Huh, from what I remember she uses a lot of weapons in her fighting style." Naruto mentioned conversationally.

Nodding quietly Sasuke replied, "From what I saw, that hasn't changed much."

A thought coming into his head, Naruto's expression became slightly confused, "I thought you would have been able to deflect most of them though, what with that oversized knife you always carry around with you."

Nodding at his team mate, the last loyal Uchiha sat down carefully. "Normally that would be the case, but it seems she's managed to develop a new technique since we've been away."

"Oh? And what's that?" The blonde asked carefully.

"Well, do you remember that technique we used when we first ran into Zabuza? The Shadow Wind Shuriken Technique?" Seeing his team mate nod, Sasuke continued, "She has managed to do that with kunai."

"I'm impressed, but she still doesn't appear to have caused you any damage other than shredding your clothes," Naruto said with a small smile.

Chuckling darkly, Sasuke nodded. "She may have gotten better, but she's not THAT good."

Hinata raised her hand, quietly attracting the attention of the two males, "I have to go, um, talk to you later Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san."

With a quick bow, the young heiress body-flickered away.

"So..." Sasuke muttered, grinning evily at Naruto, "For an idiot with a capital I, you work fast."

Holding his hands up defensively, Naruto began babbling incoherently, denying anything.

Sweat dropping slightly Sasuke's grin widened, "Wow... I was just saying it as a joke but your reaction says I may have hit the nail on the head there."

"God on a motherfucking pilgrimage!"

* * *

By the time Sakura arrived at training ground twelve, the males of Team Seven had agreed to never mention Naruto's reaction to anyone other than each other, in exchange for Naruto buying Sasuke two onigiri everyday for a month. Feeling generous due to his good fortune, Sasuke had even offered to help Naruto with any future problems with the young Hyuuga, at the price of a serving a session.

With the three gathered, they began to relay what they had found out.

"While you two were out gathering info, I went and bought equipment for us. I have enough kunai to sufficiently replenish our stocks, as well as tags of various kinds for traps and such. However the most important things I brought were these."

Placing four large scrolls on the ground, Sasuke unrolled one of them; showing the instructions for a complex Kenjutsu style: "These are ANBU standard Kenjutsu scrolls; they contain the styles that are taught to each member. This one here is full of the basics, and with it we should be able to analyse Kakashi-sensei's basic style, should he use it on us."

Before looking at the scroll, Naruto and Sakura looked at each other sceptically.

"How did you get a hold of these Sasuke? Seeing as the ANBU training program is top secret and all..." Sakura asked, looking at her dark haired team mate with an accusatory glance.

"The Uchiha Clan, kinda, may have, sorta, used their Sharingan to analyse the style whilst fighting alongside the ANBU and then wrote down what they saw..." Sasuke replied lamely.

Naruto shook his head in mock disgust, "Jutsu stealing bastards..." He muttered under his breath.

After they finished analysing the Kenjutsu scroll, they decided to move on to what Naruto had learnt whilst talking to Guy, aside from what it feels like to have your legs "Burn with the power of youth."

"Okay, Guy Sensei came up with a couple of rules for fighting someone who uses the Sharingan, the first being the obvious, don't look him in the eye, as Genjutsu is usually imminent if you do..."

The discussion and attempts to put into practice of Guy's rules took up the rest of that day's training session, with both Naruto and Sakura becoming sufficiently able to fight Sasuke without looking him in the eye, and Sasuke, having his Kekkei Genkai, didn't have to worry about Kakashi's inferior Sharingan at all.

Agreeing to meet up the next day to discuss what Sakura had found out from Jiraiya, the three Genin left for their homes, optimistic about the future.

* * *

"So," Shikamaru asked Kakashi quietly, "You going to go easy on them?"

Without looking up from his porn, the elite Jounin shook his head: "No... I think I'll go all out. After all, we are trying to show them how far they have to go, aren't we, 'Taicho'?"

"I suppose we are," The young genius replied with a smirk.


	6. Chapter 5 How does he keep doing that?

Activation Seal, Chapter Five

A/N: So, we come to the Kakashi fight, I've been having some trouble with this chapter due to it being pretty much completely fighting, but I hope I've succeeded in making it exciting enough :P. You also may notice that I've been trying to make the chapters longer, this one is the first to come in at over two thousand words, so big woop there :D. Once again Beta'd and added to by Mist On The Glass, god rest her sanity and everything connected to it. (Mist: Too late for my sanity, but thanks for the kind words. :D)

Some of the moves from this are inspired by, or copied from different movies or shows, if you recognise them good for you :)

Have fun

-QED

* * *

Team Seven had gotten to training ground thirty two early, their training had gone well and they believed they were as ready as they could be to fight their old sensei. The training ground was one of the newer prepared ones, having different types of terrain produced so all kinds of fighters had their elements available.

Naruto was checking his equipment by a rock in the centre of the training ground and was adding different weapons to his weapon pouches, as well as preparing explosive and poison tags, hoping to catch Kakashi off guard.

Sasuke was preparing traps across the training ground, making sure that Team Seven had an advantage over their Elite Jounin rival.

Sakura was checking the ground for traps that Kakashi may have set the night before, after all, if they could do it, so could he.

Satisfied that their preparations were complete, Team Seven congregated around the central rock, to finalise their battle plans.

"Okay, Naruto and I will go on the offensive, Sakura, you try and distract him, hopefully giving us an opening." Sasuke instructed, looking back and forth between the people in front of him, it took him a minute to notice there were three of them.

"Any orders for me Sasuke?" Kakashi asked from on top of the rock, eye smiling at them in his usual way.

"FUCK!" All three Genin jumped back clutching their hearts theatrically.

"What? I just wanted to say hello." The Jounin said defensively, "I'm hurt."

Pointing at the Jounin accusingly Naruto bellowed: "How the hell did you do that?"

Sweat dropping Kakashi chuckled, "I walked up to you, for ninja, you three aren't very observant when it comes to who's actually in the training ground with you..."

"Well... We didn't really think you'd be on time... and to be fair, you're kind of unnoticeable," Sasuke murmured, trying to defend their lack of attentiveness.

Resting his head on his hand in a relaxed way Kakashi peered down at them apparently bored.

"Your slight incompetence aside, shall we begin?" Seeing the three Genin nod, he reached up, pulling his headband away from his left eye. His fully developed Sharingan stared down at them, unblinking, before Kakashi disappeared suddenly.

Appearing in the centre of his students Kakashi grabbed Sakura by the back of her top, throwing her into Naruto with astounding force. With the two louder members of Team Seven dealt with, the Jounin turned on Sasuke quickly, effortlessly deflecting the incoming sword strike with a kunai.

Following defence with a swift sweep kick, he sent the Uchiha to the ground. Sasuke recovered from the blow, quickly rolling and stabbing towards the silver haired ninja strongly.

Stepping out of the way of the strike, Kakashi took hold of the top of Sasuke's sword by hand, pulling it from the Uchiha's grip with ease.

"You're coming at me with the intent to kill, I'm glad you learnt your lesson my vicious little Genin..." The Jounin flicked the blade experimentally, listening to the tone it made carefully. "A good sword, though a little heavy for my style."

Producing a Raikiri from his other hand, Kakashi cut through the metal of the grass cutter, leaving the blade broken.

Throwing the now useless sword to the ground, the scarecrow like man eye-smiled again.

"Still, deny the enemy a weapon and all that."

As Kakashi said this, three Naruto clones pounced at him from behind, distracting him and allowing the real Naruto to help Sasuke to regain his footing.

Naruto's clones were quickly dispelled, but they had done their job, Team Seven had regrouped in the trees and were planning their next move.

Looking towards where the three Genin had gone, Kakashi chuckled.

"You always were unpredictable Naruto... Groundhog decapitation technique." The Jounin disappeared into the ground, humming to himself quietly.

"Okay, so he got my sword and managed to deflect all of my attacks." Panting heavily, Sasuke took a drink of water from his emergency canteen before continuing. "So far as I can tell, the only chance we have is if we present a united front against him."

"That was the original plan wasn't it? Make sure he doesn't have time to think?" Naruto asked, scanning their surroundings for any sign of their opponent.

Nodding dejectedly Sasuke pulled himself to his feet, stashing the canteen back in one of the seals built into his bracers.

Sakura, who was checking Sasuke for injuries, suddenly felt a pulling sensation on her foot, before she was suddenly dragged at speed into the earth, only her head poking out.

"Double suicide decapitation technique." Kakashi stated as he pulled himself out of the ground, his face serious, "It would be easier to present a united front if one of your team weren't currently trapped underground. But that's just my opinion."

Sasuke and Naruto sprang at Kakashi, Sasuke forming familiar seals and Naruto creating a clone which began concentrating on his left hand.

"Chidori!" Sasuke declared, causing Kakashi to jump over the younger man, leading him right into where Naruto's Rasengan was forming.

Kakashi quickly pulled a replacement, appearing behind Naruto while the blonde hit a log with his Jutsu.

"Behind you!" Kakashi lectured, holding a Kunai to the back of Naruto's neck.

A chuckle escaped Naruto's mouth; he turned his head slightly, looking at his teacher, smirking.

"Boom."

As the exploding shadow clone detonated, Kakashi gained another level of admiration for the Knucklehead.

Flying out of the tree's, smoking slightly; Kakashi pulled himself to his feet, dusting himself off.

"I have to admit, I am impressed. It takes skill to use the Exploding shadow clone Jutsu on its own, but to add a substitution without smoke and a Rasengan without it dispelling as well?" The Jounin chuckled, "One could almost call it genius."

Throwing a shuriken in an aparently random direction Kakashi chuckled when the tree it hit began to swear profusely.

"Of course you always redeem yourself when trying to hide from me..."

As a noticably bleeding Naruto jumped down from the tree, glaring at the Jounin defiantly, both of his team mates exited the forest, moving to stand beside the blonde.

"Are you done analysing him yet Sasuke?" Naruto asked, obviously exasperated, "I'm getting tired of the almost constant beatings I'm getting."

Nodding Sasuke pulled into a defensive stance, "So far as I can tell, he has significantly improved since we left three years ago. He is moving at speeds where he could now easily take down Zabuza, and his use of the Sharingan has become alot more precise."

"Any blatant weaknesses?" Naruto asked warily, pulling two kunai out and holding them in his usual adaptive stance, channeling wind chakra into the metal.

"None." Sasuke began gathering his chakra for a Jutsu, "I think it's time we went all out."

Sasuke began forming hand seals rapidly, starting with the tiger and then following it with five unique hand signs, a smirk on his face.

"Summoning: Pixel Katana!" He exclaimed, pulling a sword from thin air. It's blade glowed a luminous blue and its handle was black lequered leather, the blade seemed to generate pixel like energy.

Peering at the sword with interest, Kakashi raised his hand politely.

"Yes Kakashi Sensei?" Sasuke asked smugly, his trump card effectively displayed.

"That's a nice sword Sasuke, but I think you may have neglected to bring something into account while summoning it..." The elite Jounin deadpanned, his eye's twinkling with amusement.

"And what would that be Sensei?"

"I have my Sharingan active." Repeating the hand seals that his student had used earlier, Kakashi formed his chakra, "Summoning: Pixel Katana."

An almost identicle blade to Sasuke's came into existance in Kakashi's hand, the only difference being his sword glowed a shining silver, matching the Jounin's hair.

"I really, really, REALLY hate you Sasuke..." Naruto growled under his breath, glaring at his crestfallen companion, while Kakashi walked towards them, Sharingan spinning ominously.

Nodding darkly Sakura concentrated on her fists, calling her monstrous strength to bear against Kakashi, "I'm afraid I have to agree with Naruto, that was really stupid."

"On the bright side," Sasuke said sarcastically, "I don't think we'll have very long to regret my mistake..."

* * *

A couple of hours after the arsekicking that followed, Team Seven found themselves in front of the Hokage. The fight had lasted approximately twenty minutes after Sasuke summoned his Katana, and Kakashi played with them the entire time, fighting them all to a standstill without using Jutsu and inflicting small wounds that would irritate them, without causing significant damage.

"Well, considering who you were fighting, you all did better than I expected." Tsunade announced cheerfully. "Though you did show some large gaps in your common sense."

Naruto and Sakura stared at Sasuke coldly, their eyes boreing holes in his head while he pointedly ignored them.

Looking down at a piece of paper on her desk, Tsunade's smile widened slightly. "This is my prognosis - as soon as possible, we will enter you into the Chunin exams, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to pass with your current skill set. It also helps that there are three of you, this way I don't have to find you a team to go with."

"That said, it's too late to enter you in the Chunin exams this time, so it will take roughly six months before then." Seeing that the information had gotten through to them, Tsunade smiled. "Over the next few weeks you will each receive specialist training. Sakura, Kakashi has informed me that the old pervert taught you the basics of my strength enhancement techniques. Is this true?"

Seeing the young girl nod, Tsunade pulled out a form, handing it to her, "If you sign this I will take you on as my personal apprentice, this will include training in the higher level strength Jutsu's as well as some fairly impressive medical techniques."

Sakura bowed to her leader, her eyes wide with shock, "Thank you Tsunade-sama. I will endeavour to do my best."

Nodding to her new apprentice, she turned to Naruto, "Blondie, from what was displayed in the fight, I gather you've begun doing your wind element composition, as well as learning to apply it to your weapons. Tommorow report to Sarutobi Asuma, he will help you master your element, as well as doing some specialised weapon training with you. Do your best boy, I don't want to be sitting in this chair for as long as Sarutobi-sensei did."

Saluting with his trademark grin, Naruto tapped his nose, "Understood Baa-chan!"

"Sasuke, your new sensei wont be someone you know. Tenzou, please enter!" she shouted.

The man who entered was wearing the standard ANBU attire, and a cat mask. He was carrying with him a long thin package, wrapped in paper.

"Good afternoon Uchiha-san, my name is Tenzou and I will be instructing you in high level ANBU kenjutsu." Holding out the package to the young heir, the ANBU tilted his head slightly. "I was informed that Kakashi-senpai destroyed your sword in the last fight so, to get off on the right foot, I thought it would be best to get you this."

Taking it, Sasuke opened the paper carefully and pulled out a black wooden box, longer than Sasuke's arm. On the top was an embossed Uchiha fan. Opening the gold clasp, Sasuke gasped slightly in shock.

Inside was a beautifully finished Chokutou, with a long thin blade and a white handle. There was golden scroll work on the handle and all in all the blade looked deadly.

"I took the liberty of having it made to your specifications," Tenzou said quietly. "I will be in training ground 12 tomorrow at 8, please be there on time."

That said, the young ANBU disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the grinning Uchiha with his new toy.

"You all have your orders," Tsunade declared finally, grinning, "Get the hell out of my office."


	7. Chapter 6 Suna and other places

Activation Seal, Chapter Six

A/N: Hey there everyone, long time no see! Sorry this chapter is as late as it is, I had course work and it took up a significant portion of my time. I'll try to get them on time in the future. Once again beta'd by my good friend Mist On The Glass. Thanks for reading!

Have fun children

-QED

* * *

Falling to the ground for fifth time that morning, Naruto contemplated how much he hated Jounin sensei, and their obvious sadistic tendencies.

Sarutobi Asuma dropped down next to his newest pupil, the cigarette in the corner of his mouth shaking slightly as he hit the ground. Deciding to start off the blonde's training with a match to test his strength, the recently appointed head of the Sarutobi clan had been pleasantly surprised at Naruto's strength... He had still beaten him into the ground though, Naruto was thick, and thus required instruction of how much better Asuma was than him.

"Alright then!" He declared cheerfully, taking a deep drag from his smoke, "I think I have a vague idea of your strength now."

"I... hate... you... so much..." Naruto gasped, rolling onto his front.

Nodding sagely Asuma sat down next to him, "I know you do. Now then, my primary job here is to teach you higher level elemental wind composition, but I think we can go a little further than that."

The young sensei drew a circle in the dirt with one of his trench knives, filling it with three crosses, on the outside he drew three other crosses close together but in front of them he drew bushes and rocks. He then drew a straight line from the crosses inside the circle to where the crosses outside where. He finished the drawing with a star between where the crosses inside the circle were and the crosses on the outside were hiding.

"Imagine your team are these three x's Naruto." Asuma lectured, pointing to the crosses inside the circle, "And that this line is the way which you are heading. On the other side of the line is your destination, home or where you need to make a delivery for a mission."

Pointing to the crosses on the outside of the circle Asuma grinned evilly, "These three are an ambush, and the star is a trap they have set to weaken you before you get to them. What do you do?"

"Considering I don't know the ambush is there, probably spring the trap and get ambushed," Naruto replied back, "Considering how we look as a group I would think they would assume we were weaker than we are and we would take them down in short order."

"I assume this is what you've been doing so far?" Seeing Naruto nod at this, Asuma continued, "Then what if one of them is like Shikamaru? Or any other of the intelligent Ninja we have that could effectively figure out that you aren't what you see?"

"Shit."

"That's what I thought, now let me ask you something else, how could you avoid this situation?" Asuma asked intently.

The blonde's face screwed up with thought, "I guess... Not get caught in the trap in the first place?"

Grinning in a way that made him look almost demonic, Asuma stood up.

"Get up Naruto, we have work to do."

* * *

Suna was beautiful this time of year, the light glistened on the sand and the wind was just strong enough to cool the citizens of the Village Hidden in the Sand.

The Kazekage and his family were walking down the street with their former Sensei, Baki, Tamari and Kankuro were having a heated discussion which was about two insults from getting physical. The sand siblings had changed greatly over the years, both Tamari and Kankuro had reached the rank of Jounin within two years and Gaara being Named Kazekage six months before that.

Tamari was wearing a black silk Kimono, tied by a red sash; her Hitiate was now on her forehead, rather than its usual position around her neck. Other than this, and a little gain in height, she looked very similar to how he used to her hair was in her usual 4 tails, and her huge fan was still slung across her back.

Kankuro also looked much the same as before, he still wore a black baggy outfit and his Cat hat with his Hitiate on his forehead, though his purple makeup was now in a new design, marking him as a Jounin level puppet master. Rather than simply having the Crow wrapped up on his back, the young Jounin now had a large scroll in a position similar to Jiraiya's, no doubt holding his puppets. None of this particularly mattered when he was thrown into the wall by his brother's sand.

"If you don't stop arguing, you get D ranks for a month," The young Kage droned, "I am becoming tired of your incessant nattering."

Brushing the sand off of his black uniform as he pulled himself up, Kankuro glared at his siblings comically.

"Why am I the one who always gets hit by the barrage of sand?" He asked.

"I like Tamari more than you." Gaara replied, walking in the direction of the Kazekage mansion, leaving the crestfallen puppet master in his wake.

* * *

Channelling his lightning chakra into his new sword, Sasuke charged at Tenzou for the third time. He would never admit it, but the ANBU member was significantly more skilled than him when it came to Kenjutsu, being faster and more adaptable.

Parrying the Uchiha's strike with his ANBU issue Katana, Tenzou noticed his arm beginning to go numb from the constant exposure to the genin's technique, and he grinned.

"You're improving." He stated casually, before ducking under a slash aimed at his head, and sweep kicking Sasuke's feet out from under him.

"However, you still have a long way to go." He finished lamely; placing the edge of his sword against the younger mans neck.

Pushing him into a sitting position, Sasuke sheathed his sword, glowering at his teacher, "I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I parry each strike you make, I anticipate all your moves, but every time, you do something unexpected. It's like fighting Naruto with ANBU level Kenjutsu skills."

"There are three reasons that I'm able to beat you right now, the first being speed. At this point, you are extremely fast when it comes to your strikes, I would suggest around low to mid Jounin." He explained jovially, "While I have ANBU level speed, high Jounin, to 'low' elite Jounin, when it comes to Kenjutsu in ANBU, I am currently the most dangerous fighter."

"The second is skill, your Kenjutsu style is a mixture of the basics on many styles, I'm guessing Orochimaru taught you to use whatever works right?" Seeing his student nod in affirmation, Tenzou continued, "while this can be useful in many situations, it lacks the versatility of mastering one or two styles, I would guess Orochimaru taught you to fight like you do now so that when it was time to take your body, he would be able to defeat you easier."

"I guess that makes sense," Sasuke muttered bitterly, "The bastard did always seem reluctant to teach me any of the seriously powerful Jutsus, I had to create most of my higher level techniques myself..."

"We can overcome this quite easily, I will instruct you in the most deadly Kenjutsu style we have on record, the one that is currently used by Konoha's ANBU forces." Running his hand through his hair, the older man sighed theatrically. "There is however... another problem."

"Oh?"

Squatting down next to Sasuke, Tenzou sheathed his own blade."The third reason I can defeat you as easily as I can, is also the thing you are going to have to deal with before I can teach you the style."

"And what would that be?" Sasuke asked, wincing slightly at the word, 'easily.'

"Your over reliance on your Sharingan."

* * *

His mechanical tail swinging lazily behind him, Sasori silently groaned. Deidara was annoying him again, 'explosion!' this and 'big bang!" that, the younger man didn't shut up. At least he could rile him up by saying that true art is eternal, the little bastard was hilarious when he was angry.

"But... but art is expression and feeling and power Sasori-sempai!" Deidara bellowed, one of the small clay birds buzzing about him exploding, "How can you say that only the things that last are of worth Un!"

Chuckling to himself, the puppet master stopped, seeing Suna on the horizon. "I say it because it is true. Now shut your mouth and scout Sunagakure, our informants have told us that their defences have been tightened over the last couple of years, we don't want to be caught unawares."

* * *

Falling back onto her bed tiredly, Sakura let out a sigh, the day from hell was over, and she could finally get some rest. Tsunade was not an easy task mistress, the beginning of her first day as the Hokage's apprentice was spent learning the higher levels of Tsunade's strength techniques, the amount of chakra that had been channelled through her are in precise doses had left her arms in agony. Luckily now they had gone numb, and the healing Jutsu she had used was healing them nicely.

Thinking back on the last couple of days, the pinkette smiled, it was good to be home. When she ran back through the day they had been kidnapped by Team Ten, wincing at the thought of the polar bear attack, that had really gotten to her. Thinking of when Ino kissed her, she reached over to her bedside drawer taking out one of the chocolates she kept there for when it had been a long day; it was nice of her mother to restock it for when she got back. Ino was a bit of an enigma, and was bringing feelings out of her that she hadn't expected, better to just ignore them untill her training was done.

As she came to the conclusion, and object was thrown through her open window, pulling herself onto her feet, she stumbled over too it, sitting down next to it.

It was her bra, tied to a rock, with a note in the secret pocket.

Staring at the bra confusedly she thought back, 'I lost this two days ago, I had it when I woke up in the room with Shikamaru and the others, but by the time I got to bed that night it was gone, who would have had a chance to get it off m-'

"INO!" She screamed to the sky in fury.

* * *

Finnishing up the meeting with the Suna council members, Gaara leant back in his chair, taking a deep breath. It had been a long day and he was happy it was finally coming to a close, all he had to do was sign a few thousand sheets of pa-

The Kazekage's thoughts were interrupted by an alert, the year before, Gaara had set up several permanent 'sand sensors' fuelled by outside chakra sources, when crossed, these would immediately alert the young leader, as well as informing him of the level of power that the person trying to sneak into his village was displaying. The two men who had just entered Suna were monsters, each showing power of Kage level, He couldn't let his ninja fight these people, better he deal with it himself.

Pulling himself to his feet, the two jars of sand at the side of his chair emptied themselves, forming the gourd on his back, and a cork, plugging the top.

"Time to earn my pay check." He muttered sardonically, jumping to from his windowsill, into the dark night.


	8. Chapter 7 Ichibi Reclaimation

Activation Seal, Chapter Seven

A/N: Hello people! How are we all? This chapter is a little early to make up for the fact that the last one was so late. Also! This is my first ever chapter to have OVER THREE THOUSAND WORDS! I was moderately proud of myself when i finnished, so I hope you enjoy. As always, Beta'd by Mist On The Glass, and also by Skullerfly, who was kind enough to help out.

Have fun children

-QED

* * *

Scarred, belligerent, and free of his Akatsuki cloak, Sasori hauled the two shallow breathing bodies onto the back of Deidara's clay bird, unceremoniously dropping both the Kazekage and his partner onto the C2 construct, silently thanking god that the bird worked even with Deidara out cold.

Their routine mission to capture the Ichibi hadn't gone as smoothly as they had hoped, while they were expecting Gaara to be a Kage-level fighter, they weren't expecting him to be able to overpower an S rank missing-nin so easily, after Deidara had been knocked out, leaving the Wind shadow with only negligible damage, Sasori had been more careful.

"Ugggghhh..." Deidara groaned, pulling himself into a sitting position. "What happened Sasori-sama?"

"You lost rather spectacularly without causing any significant damage to the Jinchuriki, I was forced to step in." The puppet master explained, running his hand through his hair, his expression irritated, "He destroyed Hiroko and caused enough damage to the Sandaime to force me to use myself."

The explosives expert looked surprised, looking down at the 15 year old leader, "How the hell did he get so strong, Un!"

"How pointless, it doesn't matter how he gained his strength, all that's important is that we captured him."

"Whatever, how long will it take you to fix the Sandaime?" Deidara asked, playing distractedly with his Akatsuki ring.

Shrugging, the red head finished buttoning up his uniform, "A few hours, It will be ready should they send anyone after him."

"Good, our info on this little monstrosity was woefully inadequate, we don't want to be unprepared should his friends be stronger too, Un." The ex Iwa-nin muttered.

"I wouldn't worry too much about unprepared," Sasori chuckled, "I talked to Zetsu before we left Suna, he's sending another pair as reinforcements."

"Good! Then I get to show MORE people my art, Un!" The blonde shouted excitedly.

"Pointless..."

* * *

"So how come you have so much time to teach me Asuma-sensei, shouldn't you be teaching Team Ten?" Naruto asked, while waiting impatiantly for his ramen to arrive.

Stubbing out his Cigarette, the Jounin grinned at the younger man, "That's quite simple, Team Ten doesn't exist any more."

As the Sarutobi spoke, two bowls of ramen were placed in front of the Ninja. Naruto was caught between asking why and his favourite food. He decided that for once in his life this information could be more important than food; he asked his teacher what he meant.

"Ino and Chouji are both Special Jounin now, and thus are no longer under my jurisdiction." Asuma said, taking a bite of chicken.

"Wow! I'm surprised they rose in rank at such a young age!" Naruto exclaimed, finally succumbing to the delicious smell of the noodles.

It took Naruto ten minutes of constant eating before he realised he'd missed something, "Wait a second, what about Shikamaru, is he still a Chunin?"

"Nah, he's a full fledged Jounin now."

"WHAT!"

"Yeah, it took him around two months after you guys left, but something changed about him." Asuma said conversationally, "I think the best was to describe it would be to say he's gained purpose."

Nodding at the description, Naruto's eyes suddenly screwed up in confusion, "Asuma-sensei... I feel weird."

"That would probably be all the laxatives I slipped into your ramen." Asuma chuckled, paying Teuchi for the meal.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Naruto screamed, before sprinting to the stands toilet as fast as he could.

Around five minutes later two ANBU opratives walked up to Asuma, before bowing politely.

"Sarutobi-sama, The hokage has requested the presence of yourself and Uzumaki-san, we were informed he might be with you, have you seen him?" The operative with a bird mask asked quietly.

"He'll be a while, I think its probably best if we just leave him here and come back later."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Team Ten left the Hokage's office at a sprint, each of them heading towards their homes. With the Kazekage captured, it was Konoha's duty as an ally of the Sand village to send aid. With Team Ten going on ahead and meeting with Temari and Kankuro on route, Team Seven would head for Suna after picking up Naruto from Ichiraku's. They would gather information on the kidnapping and report to Shikamaru on what they found.

When they regrouped outside wherever the Akatsuki were holed up, they would enter in full force, hopefully overwhelming the enemy and taking Gaara back.

As the Jounin in charge of the mission, Shikamaru was a little aprehensive, this would show whether their training had succeeded, whether they were truly strong enough to face the Akatsuki.

What could possibly go wrong?

About an hour later, Team Ten were talking about the sudden change of events.

"Gaara was one of the strongest of us," Ino pointed out, "When he began training at the same rate we had, we thought he'd be pretty much undefeatable. This doesn't bode well for us."

Shika shook his head distractedly, "He was taken down in the sand villiage itself, Gaara is significantly stronger than most of the people we know, however if Suna was threatened, he would defend it, no matter the cost."

"Yeah so?" Chouji asked, his voice quiet.

"While its an admirable thing in theory, it also gave the Akatsuki something to exploit." The Nara explained, "And two S rank Missing-Nin with an advantage? Its no wonder he was taken down, all we can hope is that we'll be able to bring him back."

The other three nodded.

"What information did Suna send about the attackers?" Asuma asked, trying to straighten his thoughts out.

"The description of the first attacker could only be Deidara, with the description of his skills we got from Jiraiya last month, we should have no problem formulating a strategy against him." Shikamaru replied.

"I'm sensing a 'but' here." Ino muttered darkly, seeing the troubled look on the Jounin's face.

"It's not Deidara I'm worried about," Shika admitted, "The other Nin was identified as a Suna Nin, one who hadn't been seen in a very long time."

Asuma's eyes widened a little, as it dawned on him who his former student was referring too.

"It couldn't be, he disappeared years ago." Asuma growled.

"I'm afraid it is, the identification was positive." The genius muttered, grimacing.

"Sasori of the red sand took the Kazekage, and it looks like he's as strong as ever."

* * *

It took around 4 hours at full sprint for Team Ten to reach the rendezvous point from there, and the Kazekage's sister looked less than pleased.

"What the hell took you so long?" the distraught blonde bellowed, "My brother's life hangs in the balance here!"

As the group began running Shikamaru ran up next to Temari.

"We got here as fast as we could," he countered, "What information have you got for us?"

"They're around a quarter of a mile ahead of us, there were originally two of them but they were reinforced about an hour ago by two more," Chewing her lip thoughtfully, Tamari frowned, "As I left for the meeting point they were setting up some kind of seal on the door. When will the over team get here?"

"They should have reached Suna by now, any help that whoever is in charge sends will be with them, hopefully they'll be here within the hour." He replied quickly. Looking left to right the young genius frowned, "Where's Kankuro, I was led to believe he would be with you."

She shrugged "He had to stay behind, why, is that important?"

"I guess not, his help would have been useful but..." He shrugged too, "It's not necessary."

It only took them five minutes to get to the cave entrance, and the first thing they noticed was the huge door. It was bare steel, with very little ornimentation, in the center, a white paper tag with a complex looking seal had been stuck, Team Ten and Tamari stopped, staying out of sight.

"The tag part of the 'Five seal barrier' technique," Asuma explained quietly, stubbing out his cigarette in the floor, "We have to remove each of the five seals that have been hidden within a 9,000 meter radius and tear them within a second of each other. We have to remove the other four first, then this one should be destroyed, letting us inside."

"Alright, then I guess we wait for the other team to arrive and split into groups," Temari muttered, "You're in charge here Asuma, what should the groups be?"

Looking embarassed, Asuma scratched the back of his head, "Actually... I'm not in charge, Shikamaru is."

"WHAT!"

* * *

Team Seven arrived twenty minutes later, and they weren't alone. Kankuro had managed to pawn off looking after Suna on Baki, and was now talking quite animatedly with the other addition to their forces.

Chiyo was an old lady, short, wrinkled and crazier than the Hokage when she actually won a bet. On the other side she was also the second most famous Suna puppet master, after Sasori and was known around the world for having been one of the strongest shinobi in existence in her prime.

"Alright, this is what we're going to do," Shikamaru began, "There are four tags we have to get, so the teams are gonna be..."

An hour later the tags were gone, and the team were on their way through the maze of the Akatsuki hideout, Kakashi in the lead, due to his strength as a tracker.

"He'd better be alive," Tamari muttered, "I'd have to kill him if he let himself die..."

Putting his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, Shikamaru smiled, "We'll get him back, I promise."

"Yeah..." She replied, smiling but not sounding as convinced.

As they entered the main room of the hideout, the recovery team took in their surroundings. They were in a large cavernous room, not unlike the inside of a cave. There were only two exits, one back the way they had come and one one the other side of the room, obviously leading out to an escape route.

In front of the other exit were five figures, four of them wearing Akatsuki cloaks and standing around the other, who was lying prone.

Gaara didn't look good, his body was scratched in some places and burnt in others, the top half of his outfit was torn open and a large gash could be seen down his chest, but none of this mattered to the retrieval team, it was all overshadowed by one fact;

He was still breathing.

"Shit." Sasori growled, "We aren't finished yet. Tobi, Gama, you two have your tasks, Deidara, take the jinchuriki, try to get him to the other safe houses."

Nodding in understanding, Deidara pulled a small clay owl from his robe, throwing it at the ground.

Pulling the Kazekage onto the now larger bird, he took off in flight, leaving his associates to deal with the threat.

On the other side of the cave, Shikamaru was giving out the instructions to his side.

"Alright, there are four targets, and we only know about two of them, Asuma, Kakashi, and Temari you two go after Gaara, he's the main priority. Ino, make a distraction so those three can get through."All four nodded, setting off towards the exit, "Alright, there are three left, what we do is-"

The genius was cut off by a tap on his shoulder.

"Sorry, but I need to borrow your Naruto." Tobi declared cheerfully, before grabbing the blonde and teleporting away.

"What the hell!" Sakura exclaimed, her face confused, "Where'd he go!"

Reappearing behind Sasuke, the orange masked criminal laughed childishly, "That's just my space time ninjutsu! Now I have to take your Sasuke too!"

As the child-like man grabbed Sasuke by the shoulder Shikamaru dived at him, getting caught in the swirling Jutsu as well.

Chiyo looked at the space where their leader had just disappeared from, her face slightly perplexed.

"Well," she muttered, "Considering the orange one just took the other member with him, I would guess it's the rest of us versus Sasori."

* * *

As Sasuke and Shikamaru dropped out of the swirl with Tobi, they rolled onto their feet, pulling their weapons out.

"What the hell did you just do!" Sasuke demanded, charging at Tobi, his sword crackling with electricity.

"Well," The missing nin replied superfluously, while dodging fast sword strikes from the younger man, "I teleported us 6 miles south east of the hideout."

As he spoke, spikes of shadow began erupting from the ground around him, one of them cutting into his cloak.

"I don't see Naruto anywhere around here," Shikamaru commented, sending more spikes at their opponent. "Where is he?"

"I teleported him and Gama-sempai two miles to the west," Tobi explained, appearing behind Shikamaru and kicking him in the back of the head, "I was just supposed to keep Uchiha-kun busy until the Ichibi was safely under our control, but I guess you'll have to be dealt with too Nara-kun."

* * *

Naruto awoke in a dark cave, his back to the wall and his opponent sitting across from him crosslegged.

Gama wore a mask, like Tobi, but his was a polished silver, at the forhead, two small horns potruded. He wore the traditional Akatsuki robe although it appeared to be a little to small for him. Naruto didn't pay attention to this however, due to recognising the man immediately.

"Ero-Sennin?" The blonde shouted confusedly, "What the hell are you doing in an Akatsuki robe!"

"My name is Gama Naruto-San," The Man replied calmly, "I have no idea why you are referring to me in that way."

* * *

Gama appeared in front of the Jinchuriki suddenly, holding a Kunai to his throat.

"Though I would prepare for a fight if I was you," the masked man suggested quietly.

Deidara glanced behind himself and swore, they were catching up with him.

Kakashi's team had been trailing the Iwa Missing-Nin for ten minutes and were steadily gaining ground, given another five minutes they would catch up with him an- wait, what was Kakashi doing with his eye-

Deidara's thoughts were interrupted as his owl disappeared from under him.

"God on a motherfucking pilgrimage!" he screamed as he fell.

The bomb expert was fortunate to land on something soft, stopping him from being caused any permanent harm.

The unfortunate thing was that he'd landed on sand and the fall had managed to awaken Gaara, so grevious bodily harm was not ruled out for that day.

"Ah well," he thought philosophically as the sand began to move out from under him. "You win some, you lose some..."'

* * *

"Fuck!" Ino bellowed, ducking under the third wave of iron sand, "Why does he keep aiming for me!"

Chiyo sent the 'mother and father' puppets after her grandson's human puppet, revealing their hidden blades.

"You and Sakura, as close combat fighters, are the ones who can do the most damage to his puppet." The old woman shouted, "It makes sense he would try to keep you away."

Sakura grinned ferally, "I don't need to be close to do damage."

Jumping to the ground and channeling her chakra into her legs, the pinkette sent a large chunk of the ground into the air.

Ino, seeing what Sakura was going to do, threw a barrage of kanai at the sandaime, pinning it to the wall.

Sakura jumped, reaching the boulder as it fell. The kick that followed sent the boulder at the human puppet at speeds Tsunade herself would have been impressed at.

As the dust cleared it became evident that the third Kazekage wouldn't be rising again.

Chiyo turned to Sasori, a look of sympathy on her face.

"At least the left arm's mostly intact..." she commented casually.

Unzipping his Akatsuki cloak slowly and deliberately, Sasori smiled pleasantly.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you four..." he sighed happily, as the robe fell off, "Having to use myself twice in a single day... I'm never going to live this down."

"How completely pointless." He muttered, charging at his grandmother.

* * *

Tobi dropped Shikamaru onto the ground, the Nara's body still smoking from the fire Jutsu he had just used.

Defeating the two Konoha geniuses had been more directly than he had expected, Sasuke was using techniques that suggested his chakra reserves were way above what he expected, and was managing to hold his own against the unique style of Taijutsu Tobi had been using.

But that wasn't what had surprised him the most, Shikamaru had actually managed to fight the Akatsuki member successfully through use of traps, every time Tobi had tried to dodge one of Sasuke's jutsus he was stepping on another strategically placed explosive tag.

He was almost imprssed.

"Well Uchiha-kun and Nara-kun, I'm having fun, how about you!" the masked ninja asked jovially.

Sasuke pulled himself onto his feet, ignoring the pain from his injuries, "I'm afraid it's a no from me, arsehole." he growled, hurling a Fuma Shuriken at the childish man.

Throwing himself to the floor with a theatrical faceplant. "Well there's no need to be mean!"

"Bite me!" The younger man bellowed.

Appearing behind Sasuke suddenly he kicked the Uchiha onto his back, and leaned down until his face was just by his ear.

"I'd love to Sasuke but I'm it's afraid it's time for me to go." The voice that came from the mask was much deeper than before, sounding older, as if the man had aged 30 years in a second.

Teleporting in front of Sasuke, he looked down, looking his opponent in the eye, before disappearing.

"That's not possible." He growled, pulling himself to his feet, "What the hell is going on!"

Slowly waking from the stupor Tobi had put him into, Shikamaru looked at the Irate Uchiha.

"What's got you all worked up?" He asked carefully, hoping it wasn't anything too troubleso-

"Tobi had the Sharingan." Sasuke hissed, seething with frustration.

"Oh for fuck sakes."

* * *

Ino was dead. She had been cut by one of Sasori's spinning blades and the poison had killed her in minutes.

The puppet master had been fighting at a level none of the others could comprehend, though Kankuro and Sakura were fighting with every ounce of their strength but he seemed to strong enough to break them both. And then Ino had come, she punched him and kicked him and caused the only visible damage to the puppet body. But she got too close.

Sakura sprinted at Sasori, willing as much chakra as she possibly could into her arms, one hit to kill him and avenge her closest friend, and possibly something more.

"Sorry pinkey!" Came the cheerful voice as Tobi pushed her hand off course, "Sasori-sempai's important."

The young girl crashed into the ground woth staggering force, leaving a large crater in the ground as Tobi teleported the puppet master away in a swirl of chakra.

"It's not fair!" Sakura screamed, slamming her enhanced fists into the ground, "Why the hell did this happen!"

"Calm down child," Chiyo's kindly old voice muttered, "It's about time I did something useful..."

Kneeling in front of Ino, the old puppet master began channeling her chakra, creating a pale green mist around the dead blonde.

"What are you doing Chiyo Baa-sama?" Kankuro asked, his face confused, and dark, "She's dead..."

"A life for a life," The old lady hummed quietly, "I'm not needed anymore."

Looking up at the younger puppeteer she smiled one last time, her voice thin and reedy "Take care of my ten puppets Kankuro, I think you'll find them quite useful."

Chiyo fell, landing lightly on Ino's chest, almost peacefully asleep.

Ino gasped, painfully awake and tired.

The exchange had been made; all was right with the world.


	9. Chapter 8 Mind Fuck

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back! Sorry about not uploading in so long, a virus ate my hard drive. , I only just bought a word processor app on my I Phone and have had to borrow my friend's computer to upload this! Anyway, this little chapter isn't quite as long as the last one but I hope you enjoy it! Mind fuckery is abound, and Team Ten get back to pranking. Review please! I only have six and they look rather lonely...

Have fun

-QED

* * *

Activation Seal, Chapter Eight

"Why are you doing this?"

"I find it entertaining."

"When I saw under that mask, I was confused, you shouldn't even be alive!"

"And yet here I am, evidently I'm a lot harder to kill than you thought."

* * *

Shikamaru played the piano. It was a very little known fact that at a young age each prospective leaf Nin was made to choose a skill to learn that had nothing to do with their ninja training; this was to give them a variety of skills in case they were needed to assume a cover identity for a mission.

Most people would have expected a complicated instrument such as the piano to be to 'troublesome' for the young Nara, but Shikamaru had taken to it like a fish to water.

Playing complex melodies with little effort the young Jounin looked back on the last couple of days...

* * *

"I'd like to thank you all for cowing to my aid so quickly," Gaara said quietly, his voice harsh but kind, "If you hadn't I fear I would not be in nearly as good condition as I am."

The Retreval squad bowed, each giving their respect for the red haired teen.

"Konohagakure will always aid it's ally's in any way it possibly can." Shikamaru replied, stepping forward, "We would also like to express our regret at the death of Elder Chiyo, she was a great woman."

As the young genius said this, Ino stepped forwards as well, her face troubled, "I owe her my life, in Konoha we take that very seriously, should Suna ever need our help, the Yaminaka clan will do whatever they can."

Smiling slightly Gaara nodded, "I am honoured."

"Before we go I Would like to give you this." Shikamaru bit his thumb, drawing blood and wiping it on the small storage seal he had tattooed on his arm, "When we first began corresponding I noticed a few things it might help with."

A scroll appeared in Shikamaru's hand, the older teen handed it to the Kazekage, smiling.

"It's a set of blueprints, what they contain was worked on by Jiraiya, as well as a few other people I know for the general design." the Nara grinned, "Let me know how it works out."

Opening the scroll and reading the contents quietly, the red head's eyes widened minutely, before his face became completely neutral.

"I will most defiantly do that Shikamaru," he murmured, quietly pushing the scroll into the gourd, the sand covering it entirely, "I have no doubt it will help rather a lot..."

* * *

Finishing the serenade the dark haired boy moved onto a reflective but wistful piece, turning his mind to the debriefing with the Hokage...

"This is really bad news," Tsunade groaned, leaning back in her chair, "So you're saying this guy not only appeared to be the same size and bearing as Jiraiya but he also used his fighting style as well?"

Naruto nodded, his face in a worried grimace, squirming uncomfortably in his wheel chair the young Genin raised his hand slightly, for attention.

"It's kinda worse than that Baa-Chan, on top of having the same fighting style, he used the Rasengan, damn near broke my ribs too..." Leaning forwards he looked his leader in the eye, "Where is Ero-senin, we have to tell him someone's stealing his identity!"

Shaking her head at Naruto's inability to think that Gama actually. Might be Jiraiya, Tsunade replied "I'm sorry Naruto, we haven't heard from Jiraiya since he left after your training mission, he's missed three check in dates and none of his agents that I've asked have seen him either."

"So... You think he might actually _be_ this Gama guy?" Shikamaru asked quietly.

"It looks like it." The last Senju murmured, "Though from what you described, about him not recognising the name you gave him, I would guess he's under some kind of a genjutsu or another. You said he was wearing a mask of some kind?"

Naruto nodded tiredly.

"Some of the higher level illusions I've heard about, especially the long term ones that effect memory and attachments are centred on an object kept on the person," Tsunade nodded to Asuma, "Could you ask Kurenei if she knows of any techniques that could cause Jiraiya to act the way he currently is?"

"I'll get right on it Hokage-sama." the clan head declared, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Next report is on the fight between Sasuke, Shikamaru and the Akatsuki member identified as 'Tobi,'" turning to the two in question she nodded, "you may begin..."

* * *

Shaking his head quietly Shikamaru closed the lid of the piano regretfully.

At the door a feminine voice cleared her throat. Turning around with a raised eyebrow, Shikamaru stared at Tamari, a slight smile on his face.

The Kazekage's sister was currently only wearing a silk dressing gown and had an amused look on her face.

"Not that I don't find you tinkling the ivories incredibly sexy," the blonde said with only slight sarcasm, "but are you ever coming back to bed?"

"Definitely not troublesome."

* * *

Ino and Chouji were sitting at a dango restaurant in the centre of Konoha, waiting for a friend. Since the Kazekage retrieval had proven that none of them save Gaara and Kakashi was ready to take on an S-Rank Missing Nin, Shikamaru had ordered their training to move into stage two.

Other than making their training significantly more difficult that also meant using more agents to screw with Team Seven in more inventive ways, today's meeting was to give one such agent her orders.

"Alright Blondie, Fatso, why did our illustrious leader ask me to join you today?" Anko asked, cheerfully sitting down in her place.

Ignoring the comment about his weight, Chouji grinned, taking out one of the scrolls he kept on his sash, "Shika ordered the start of phase two yesterday Anko-sensei."

He handed the purple haired kunoichi the scroll and watched as a slasher grin appeared on her face.

"So I have to distract the pink one, and I'm given free reign with how?" she asked gleefully.

"I'll be coming with you sensei," Ino informed her, "as long as you don't do anything permanent and let me have a little fun... You can do whatever you want."

Anko began to cackle maniacally, no one nearby paid any real attention; this was a common occurrence at this restaurant.

"We take her at six tomorrow morning, make sure you're ready." Ino instructed, pulling herself out of her chair, smiling at the evil looking Jounin and body flickering away.

* * *

The Next morning Sakura was kidnapped quietly by Ino and Anko, no one in the village saw them carry he into the forest of death, and no one heard Anko humming a jaunty tune at she did this, or else.

* * *

Naruto awoke, blinking as consciousness returned to him. Pushing himself up to a sitting position. After about five minutes of sitting there and dopily staring at his feet, he decided it was time for breakfast.

It took him about two minutes to dress in his usual orange jumpsuit, and he wandered to his kitchen, putting his kettle on for his instant ramen.

"Hello Naruto."

Shikamaru winced as Naruto screamed, spinning round to stare at the Jounin sitting in his living room.

"You scream like a little girl." The Nara deadpanned from the sofa.

"How did you get in my apartment!" He demanded belligerently.

"Ninja." Shikamaru replied, sipping a cup of tea.

"Touché." Naruto replied, turning back to his ramen cup, "Why are you here?"

"That's one of life's great mysteries isn't it." he replied airily, "I would say god, but I'm not particularly religious."

"Hah, you're so funny I almost forgot to laugh." Naruto said sarcastically.

"I'm really here to inform you that Chouji is about to cast a genjutsu on you, I wouldn't try and avoid it if I were you, we have Sasuke."

Nodding understandingly Naruto suppressed a shiver.

"What's gonna happen to me?" the blonde asked hesitantly, hoping that Chouji wasn't going to do anything _too_ drastic.

"The genjutsu is structures around the physical and mental structures of attraction, the illusion will identify the people in your life you have sexual attraction to and will create visual images to represent them, in the way you find them moat attractive." Shikamaru replied lazily.

Naruto's eyebrows rose quizzically, his expression one of surprise, "That doesn't sound too bad, won't I just see a load of hot girls naked?"

The evil chuckle that escaped the Nara's lips begged to differ.

"There's something else isn't there...?" Naruto asked resignedly.

Shikamaru leant forwards, his eyes glinting malevolently, "Each person has unconscious attractions inside them, only 0.6% of people actually know all the attractions they have, or even the style they are most attracted too. This means that when this genjutsu is cast on people, they usual get at least ONE nasty surprise."

As the genius explained this, Naruto's face gradually got paler and paler, eventually leaving him looking ghost like.

"Why are you only doing this to me?" he growled, annoyed at the apparent prejudice, "Surely Sasuke should be put through this too?"

Shikamaru chuckled nervously, "The original plan was to have Kakashi use this Jutsu on Sasuke while we used it on you but..."

* * *

_Shikamaru knocked on the door of Kakashi's modest apartment, the sound resonating ominously for some reason._

_As the door opened, the young Jounin was surprised by an unexpected face._

_"Uh... Hi Anko-Sensei, can I speak to Kakashi for a minute?" he asked, his voice uneasy. _

_"I'm afraid not, he's... Busy." the purple haired ANBU said with an absolutely straight face._

_"Busy?"_

_She nodded emphatically "Busy."_

_Deciding against his better judgment, Shikamaru peered round Anko and into the front room._

_"OH GOD IM BLIND!"_

* * *

"He was a little tied up when I went to see him."

"What do you mean by tied u-" Naruto asked, confused.

"I will not discuss that subject any further." The Nara stated, shuddering slightly.

"O...Kay?"

"Anyway, I must be going. Have fun!" The dark haired Jounin declared cheerfully.

As Shikamaru turned away, Naruto's vision began to blur.

He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

* * *

"Hello Naruto-kun." Came the light voice, waking him from the Genjutsu induced stupor.

Seated on his sofa, Hyuuga Hinata beamed her face lighting up and everything around her seeming just a little bit less dark.

She was also only wearing lavender coloured lingerie, which didn't really help his state of mind.

"Uh seh wah?" He mumbled.

"Coherent." she murmured, giggling quietly.

"Don't worry Hinata, he's always like that," Came a mocking voice from behind him.

Turning to his team mate's remark, Naruto smiled wanly, "Hello Sakura."

The pinkette was in a red silk dressing gown and had a playful smile on her face.

"After looking at you two, I'm quite surprised he doesn't have a massive nosebleed right now." Came an unexpected compliment, as Tenten walked past Naruto with her leather clad hips shaking seductively.

"I wasn't expecting that..." Naruto admitted honestly, "I wonder who's next."

"That would be me."

The voice sent a chill down Naruto's spine, bringing back memories he hadn't thought of in over three years. Turning round his face was a grim mask, staring at the face of the young ninja who had asked him to kill him for failure.

"Well, at least you look like a girl..." He murmured to the young man, "Right Haku?"

"I suppose we thank ourselves for small mercies." The he replied.

He was, surprisingly, in his usual kimono, with his hair in the same bun it had been when he died, the small smile on his face was enough for Naruto t overcome his slight confusion over why he would feel any attraction to him.

"At least I only feel a little attracted," Naruto chuckled, "Besides, I get the feeling its more to do with our similarities than anything else."

"If you say so." Haku replied, his voice unconvinced.

"He would say that."

"Especially in this situation."

Two new voices went through the apartment, coming from the direction of the Shougi set Asuma had bought Naruto to help with his tactics. Turning slowly, the young Jinchuriki's eyes widened staring at the scene in disbelief.

"The Dobe always does try to lie to himself." Sasuke deadpanned, moving a pawn on the board and then adjusting his sailor costume, "Your move."

"Thank you." Gaara said politely, dressed in similar nautical clothes, "And here I thought that this evening wouldn't be entertaining."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the hidden spot Team Ten was watching from...

"I KNEW IT!" Sasuke bellowed in a horrified tone, suddenly stopping his attempts to escape the ropes he was tied with.

"And now, not only have we scarred him for life, we also have blackmail material." Shikamaru declared in a satisfied tone, "Good job Chouji."

The congratulations were cut short at Naruto screamed, again like a little girl, and jumped out of his window, escaping the area the Genjutsu covered.

"Definite mental scarring." Chouji nodded, "Now let's move on to the next phase."

* * *

When a humiliated Sakura returned from the forest of death that night, she noticed two things about her apartment, firstly, there was a draft coming from each of the windows, leaving the small home at the same temperature as the summer evening outside. The other thing was that the glass in the windows was completely gone with no trace anywhere.

"What the hell..." She growled, checking the ground for broken glass, "How did they get rid of the windows without breaking them?"

Deciding that after her long day of mild torture and Ino trying to get into her pants she deserved a little rest, she left the window mystery for another day.

Drifting off to sleep on her bed, the last thought that she remembered was asking herself, "Why would they even WANT to remove the window anyway...?"

She failed to notice Ino climbing into her bedroom through the permanently open window, and sliding into bed next to her.

The morning would be eventful.

* * *

A/N: If anyone wants to know what the other characters would have seen in the Genjutsu, PM me or leave it in a review, I'll get back to you as fast as I can.


	10. Chapter 9 Used Goods

Activation seal, Chapter Nine

A/N: Sorry this is so late... again. I know I haven't been all that good when it comes to updating, but I am trying! Thanks to all you guys who read the fic, and I hope you do keep reading. The next chapter is a bit of fun, and I hope you enjoy it, a few little changes in charecter personalities will be showing up soon, just to spice this up a little bit. I hope you like what I've done. Please review, I'm finding it hard to continue without constructive criticism and praise :P

Have fun kids.

-QED

* * *

"So you came back..."

"Of course! I do so enjoy our little chats."

"You're a sadist."

"You say that like it's a bad thing in a ninja."

"It's a bad thing in anyone!"

"And yet I do my work with a smile on my face. How are you feeling?"

"Every time the mask goes on... I die a little more inside."

"Considering you've only been here a short while..."

"I swear... One day, I will kill you."

"Good luck with that. I'm going for some food now, try to stay sane. Who knows, you might get out one day."

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

"Goodbye Jiraiya."

* * *

Team Seven met up in training ground 52 every two days for teamwork exercises and integration of the new techniques that their one to one training had produced. It was a valuable catch up time for the team and it allowed them to catch up with their primary sensei.

Sasuke was the first to arrive that day, and the young Uchiha was happy to sit on the grass, quietly waiting for his team.

Ever since rejoining the ranks of Konoha, the young man had been more satisfied with his life than he had ever been. Despite having to be dragged kicking and screaming back to Jiraiya's camp just over a year and a half ago, he had eventually realised what was happening to him after having the curse seals negative effects sealed.

A year and a half of guilt and disgust flooding into his body at an exponential rate had left him catatonic for days. The group had been forced to enter the Uchiha into a private medical facility just to keep him alive through this.

Shaking his head from the memory, he looked up at the trees surrounding the small training ground, scanning for any sign of his team mates.

Noticing an approaching figure, he smiled slightly as Naruto entered the area, grinning as always.

"Hey, dumbass, no matter how much you smile, I'm never going to sleep with you." he mocked, causing the blonde to wince visibaly.

Naruto sat down next to the darker haired teen, "You're never gonna let me forget that are you?"

Sasuke considered the question carefully, calculating the scope of time and the infinite majesty of forgiveness, as well as gauging his own capacity for mercy as a kind and loyal friend.

"No, never, not even if you payed me a significant amount of money and then danced naked in the middle of the street shouting about how you want to bang all of the females in the villiage."

"Do you have any idea how much I hate you right now?" the blonde growled, his face embarrassed.

"Does this look like the face of some one who cares?" Sasuke asked sadistically.

It had been two weeks since Team Ten had pranked Naruto, showing the people he was attracted to, Sasuke had decided he needed a couple of centuries to humiliate the blonde before he let him off the hook.

"Look," Naruto began, "I had a discussion with Team Ten, wanting to come to understand more of what I saw."

"And?"

"Apparently the genjutsu shows you your level or desire for the people by the order at which they appear."He replied, "The first to appear is the one of who the person is most attracted to, that means that because... 'The event' happened at the end..."

"you must have very little attraction at all, possibly only slight feelings from prolonged exposure to someones presance." Sasuke finished, using the psychological knowledge he had gained from his madetory councelling sessions with Inoichi Yaminaka.

"Right!" Naruto exclaimed, "So can you stop it with the gay jokes already!"

"Hmmm... Based on the position of the sun, and the fact that it's the 1st of May... I'm gonna have to say no." the Uchiha deadpanned, smirking at the blondes spluttering response.

"I'm going to sleep until Kakashi-sensei gets here," he finished, lying on his back, "Wake me up when you sense him.

With that said, the Uchiha slowly, but happily drifted off to sleep.

* * *

- Extract from the first mandatory counselling session with Inoichi Yaminaka-

"You will not break me." The Uchiha declared through grit teeth at the calm Yaminaka, his eyes steely with purpose.

"We shall certainly see." Inoichi murmured, sipping his tea, "I suggest you get ready, I've been waiting to see you for around ten years Sasuke."

* * *

Only two hours late for the start of practice, Kakashi dropped down from the trees silently. Since being recruited into Team Ten's mind games, the one eye'd pervert had found a new purpose, training his students, (as well as himself) to be able to take down S rank missing-Nin.

"Now then children," he began lackadaisically, iliciting a slight scowl from Sasuke, "What have you been filling your brains with since we last met?"

Sakura raised her hand politely, wanting to get her report over with.

"Tsunade-sama has been adding to my medical knowledge, I can now heal moderate flesh wounds as long as organs aren't involved."

"Good, that could come in useful. Though try not to put yourselves in a situation where you'll need it guys." the teacher suggested off handedly. "You next Naruto."

"Asuma-sensei told me about the second stage of wind composition yesterday, I've been using my clones to try and cut a waterfall in half." Frowning slightly the blonde took out a trench knife from his jacket, not dissimilar to Asuma's preferred weapons, "He has also begun teaching me how to use advanced knife fighting techniques, though I'm having some trouble getting it right..."

The silver haired Jounin chuckled quietly, "Asuma's been trying to promote the trench knives as a weapon for a while now. So far the only two people in the villiage who know how to use them are Asuma and Shikamaru."

Turning to the final member of his squad, Kakashi eye smiled at Sasuke encouragingly, while motioning for him to speak.

"Tenzou says I've progressed through the ANBU kenjutsu style satisfactorily, he's recommended some one on one training with you Sensei, to improve my elemental composition." His face turning sour at 'satisfactorily' the Uchiha pulled himself into a straighter sitting position, "He also says I'm not relying on the sharingan as much as I used to, though I'm not so sure that's a good thing..."

"There's a reason I don't go flashing my Sharingan in every fight I come across Sasuke," Kakashi murmured, "Though I suppose you will have to figure that out for yourself."

Standing up straighter their leader lazily tossed four kunai, each about 400 feet from each other, making a box shape.

"Alright team, you know the drill, one on one until one of you is knocked out," sitting down on the floor quietly he looked up at the younger ninja, grinning under his mask, "try not to kill each other."

"You've been hanging around Anko way to much sensei..."

* * *

Shikamaru smirked at the training team, his carefully chosen hiding spot obscuring him from their view completely. Turning to his best friend, he held out his hand to Chouji.

The Akamichi handed him a scroll, his face smiling almost sadistically.

They waited silently for a minute, each boy calm but a little excited.

Ino appeared behind them, her face carefully neutral, but her body language betraying her anticipation.

"Is she in place?" Shikamaru asked quietly.

Nodding, Ino grinned, "And he's on his way."

Opening the scroll with a flourish, the young genius bit his thumb, "Then let's get this show on the road."

"Activation seal." he declared.

* * *

The fist sign that something was wrong was a high wistling sound, Sasuke tilted his head quizzically, trying to descern where it was coming from.

Unfortunately for him, the second sign was a bound and gagged Tenten slamming into his side, sending him flying and leaving her bound form where he had been.

"What the fuck...!" Naruto exclaimed, "Did everyone else just see that?"

Sakura nodded her head slowly. Walking towards Tenten warely.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you-" she began, before noticing their teachers sudden absence from the training ground. "Huh, that's weird."

Shrugging he pinkette turned back to Tenten, leaving Naruto to help a confused Sasuke out of the crater he'd been flung into.

Tenten appeared to be fine on the surface, though she was unconcious. Other than being bound the only other interesting thing about the older teen was the fact that she was currently in just her cream coloured underwear.

Scanning her for further injuries, the young medic Nin noticed a letter slipped in the ropes that bound her, reaching for it carefully Sakura looked at the front, noticing it was adressed to Team Seven and had a little heart afterwards.

"Guy's, you'd better come see this..."

When the rest of her squad was around her, Sakura opened the letter, half expecting it to explode. Looking over her shoulder Naruto began to read out loud.

_"Dear Team Seven_

_Salutations from your friends over at Team Ten!_

_Hope you are well we're fine._

_I thought it would be good for us to send you this as a present and the others agreed._

_You can have these used goods, I'm done with them._

_Just to warn you, she's been put under a memory Jutsu and won't remember a thing of our time together._

_Have fun with Neji, Lee and Guy!_

_Love Ino_

_P.s Shikamaru says because of the incriminating information it contains, this message will self destruct in-"_

Naruto was cut off as Sakura yelped slightly in alarm, when her fingers got slightly burnt by the small flame.

"I knew it would blow up..." Sakura muttered, before sucking on her fingers.

Sasuke turned to Naruto, his expression one of perplexity.

"What do you think she meant about Neji, Lee and G-"

"YOSH!"

"Why is my girlfriend tied up?"

"THIS IS MOST UNYOUTHFUL!"

"Crap..."

* * *

Dodging another Jyuken strike aimed at his stomach, Naruto cursed the bane of his current existance, Team Ten's little, 'training regime' was going to throw him into an early grave, and it definitly wouldn't be a pleasant one.

While he understood the need to get stronger, this was not his ideal way of doing it, Team Seven KNEW the Akatsuki were a threat, they'd seen it first hand, what was the point of these constant attempts to make them miserable! Pushing Neji back with a grimace, the blonde formed the seals for one of the Jutsu's Asuma had taught him.

"Wind style; enclosed prison!" he bellowed, sending a continued pressure of constant wind, slamming Neji into a tree and trapping him there.

"Will you just listen for a moment!" He demanded of the Jounin, keeping the larger part of his concentration on keeping the older teen trapped.

Tilting his head to the side slightly, Neji's frown deepened, "What do you have to say?"

"Well firstly, do you honestly think I'm the kinda guy who'd kidnapp, strip and then tie up you're girlfriend for no other reason than 'I wanted to?'"

"Well," The Hyuuga floundered slightly, "Now that you mention it..."

"And honestly," Naruto continued scavingly, "While I'll I admit I'm not the smartst guy in the villiage, why the hell would I be so obvious as to bring her to my TEAM TRAINING GROUND."

Neji chuckled quietly, his shoulders slumping.

"Lee, Guy, hold up, the test is done."

The two older leaf Nins stopped their assault on Naruto's team mates with slight surprise.

"That is good! I am impressed with Naruto-kun's youthful intellegence!" Guy exclaimed, with vigor, slipping into his nice guy pose, "Congratulations!"

Staring at Team Guy with wide eyes, and a confused look on his face, Naruto turned back to his adversary.

"What the hell are they talking about Neji?"

The white eye'd boy grinned, before pushing himself forwards and spinning himself, using the Hyuuga ultimate defence.

"Kaiten."

Naruto was blown backwards by the force of his own wind chakra being turned on him, flipping backwards, he managed to stop himself from slamming into the approaching tree, instead securing himself to it with chakra.

"The last scenario was a test, to see how you would deal with allies being turned against you by an enemy," Neji explained, walking towards his friend, a open smile on his face, "I'd like to congratulate you on not only not using heavy force but also for managing to convinve the ally of your integrety."

"Uh thanks I guess..."

"Here." Neji threw a scroll to Naruto, before turning away. "I'll be seeing you soon."

Catching the cylindrical object, Naruto's confused look remained, "Wait, what is this?"

"I have absolutly no idea, the Hokage told me to give it to you if you passed the test."

"Well?" Naruto asked, as Sasuke read the message, noticing the smile forming on his face.

"It appears we have a new mission."

Sakura sipped her canteen, raising her eyebrow slightly, "What is it."

Throwing the scroll at her, Sasuke stood up, "We're going to go capture an Akatsuki spy, it appears Deidara came up with the goods."

"Who's the spy, well... spying on?" Naruto asked quietly.

"An old friend," Sasuke chuckled, as Sakura gasped at the mission scroll.

"Thats right boys and girls, We're going to capture a spy in Orochimaru's ranks!"


	11. Chapter 10 Setting off to Tenshi Bridge

A/N: Well here we are again, it's always such a pleasure.

So here's the new chapter, I've decided to stop appologising for being late cause if i do, I'm probably going to be doing it at the beggining of every chapter, so instead I'l just say; Hope you like what I've writen!

Have fun kids.

-QED

* * *

Activation Seal, Chapter Ten

"We sent Hidan and Kakazu out for a couple of weeks yesterday, bounty runs and all. They're wandering around the land of fire! Who knows maybe they'll be able to pick off a few leaf nine while they're there."

"What happened to make you so dark... It's like you have no soul at all."

"Hah, it's funny, that would explain alot for you wouldn't it."

"It doesn't make sense though, why are you even alive? And why won't you stop this?"

"I'm afraid the first question is off limits, but the second one I can answer with words of a great man."

"Well, why did you betray the leaf, turn against your home and put forward a set of events that, if they come true, will cause the death of your entire family?"

"Because death is nothing compared to vindication."

* * *

Team Seven had gathered outside the Hokage building, and with Kakashi miraculously on time for once, they were recieving a short pre-briefing meeting from the silver haired pervert.

"Alright team! Because the mission today is of utmost importance, as well as the fact there is a high chance we'll run into not just one, but TWO S rank missing nin, we're going to have a few extra team mates along for the ride." the lackadaisical man explained, "They're probably up in the Hokage's office now."

"Is there anything we should know about these guys before we meet them?" Sakura asked, deciding to gather a little intel.

"Well," Kakashi murmured, "Yamato was my old partner from my days in ANBU, his abilities are generally related to his 'wood release' Kekei genkai, though he is also the current top Kenjutsu master at ANBU."

"Wait, I thought Tenzou was the top ANBU when it comes to Kenjutsu?" Sasuke exclaimed questioningly.

"I had forgotten you were receiving lessons in Swordsmanship from Tenzou..." Kakashi replied, while silently cursing his memory, "Alright, what's said here isn't ever repeated, you can consider it an S rank secret that only the Hokage can know, understood?"

Seeing his students nod, the older Ninja rewarded them all with a patented eye smile.

"The man you are going to know as 'Yamato' is Tenzou, the ANBU member who has been training Sasuke for the last month." seeing Sasuke's eyes widen slightly he leant against the wall, "Because we can't have the abilities of the Hokage's ANBU known by everyone, it's imperative that any information you pick up on his skills remain completely secret, capich ?"

Once again his Genin nodded, causing their Sensei to chuckle quietly.

"Good." Deciding to add to his talk, the Jounin continued, "The other new member of our team is a relative unknown, He's a Chunin and his name is Sai, that's all I've been able to find out. I don't know about you, but the fact that the former head of ANBU couldn't find a thin about the guy kinda worried me."

"Now that you mention it," Naruto said, his face becoming dlightly introspective, "That does seem a little fishy."

"I suppose there's not much we can do though," Sakura replied, "it's probably best to just be prepared for everything."

The other three all acknowedged this, though Kakashi still seemed a little worried.

* * *

"It should take you around a day and a half to reach Tenshi Bridge, giving you another day and a half to prepare for your ambush" Tsunade explained, Handing an envelope to Kakashi, "These are the funds you have avalable, anything extra will have to come out of your own money."

"Due to the nature of this mission and the dangers involved, I want it understood that you have two secondary objectives along with capturing the spy in Orochimaru's ranks, these are not compulsory and to be quite honest I will be surprised if either of them are completed, but I want you to know, huge bonuses will be awarded to you should you complete either."

"What are they Baa-chan, if you don't think our awesome team can do it I aim to prove you wrong!" grinning at hIs fellow blonde impudently, Naruto struck an almost Jiraiya-esq pose.

Growling slightly in irritation at her subordinates actions, he Hokage suddenly grinned ferally, scaring those who were present with tue sudden change.

"Is that so Naruto? Alright then, the sub-objectives are these, firstly should the Akatsuki member Sasori show himself to receive the information from his spy, I want him captured, or should that not be a possibility killed. If he were to have an Akatsuki partner with him, the same order applies."

Hearing his leader state this, Naruto slumped out of his pose in one motion, causing everyone in the room, minus Sai, feel slightly sorry for him after seeing his boast come back to bite him on the arse.

"And... The second one?" Naruto asked, hoping like he'll it wouldn't be nearly as suicidal as the first.

"If possible, the assasination and destruction of the body of Orochimaru, should he follow the spy to the meeting place."

"God on a motherfucking pilgrimage!"

* * *

"Alright then, since we're all going to be on a team together for the time being, I think it would be best if we were to introduce ourselves." Kakashi had taken a seat on one of the benches outside the Hokage mansion, eye smiling at the people in front of him.

Unknown to the lower ranked leaf nin, the cyclops had surreptitiously pulled out a notepad, and was writing a report to the Hokage on his teams stability and progress, as well as evaluating Yamato and Sai.

"Why don't you go first Sempai?" Yamato asked cheerfully, sitting down next to his former captain.

"Alright then, as most of you know my name is Kakashi Hatake, and I am the current Sensei of Team Seven. My likes are porn, a certain purple haired nutcase and my team, my dislikes are people who abandon their comrades and people who try and stop me reading my porn. I don't have any dreams right now, but killing Orochimaru and keeping he viallage from being destroyed are short term goals. You're up Yamato." he finished, nodding at the other Jounin.

"Right," the wood user acknowledged, ignoring his leaders comments on errotic paraphenalia, "My name is Yamato, and I'm a former member of ANBU black ops, my likes are gardening, training and architecture, my dislikes are people not getting along and forcing me to... Intervene. My dream is being able to settle down one day with not to many people trying to kill me. Who wants to go next?"

_Dream is mundane but reachable, appears saner than most upper ranked nin, has issues with conflict._

"I'l give it a shot Yamato-Taicho," Naruto volentered, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm Konoha's number one, unpredictable knucklehead ninja! My likes are my team, my friends, Ramen, being a ninja and being acknowledged as a good ninja, my dislikes are people who judge before knowing the whole story, the time it takes to make Ramen and the Akatsuki. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage ever and rescue Ero-sennin from the Akatsuki!"

_Dream has evolved to help Jiraiya, showing good comradeship and loyalty, mental capacity appears the same as before. Appears to have warmed up to Sasuke significantly._

"Who's 'Ero-sennin?'" Sai asked quietly.

"The Toad sage, Jiraiya." Kakashi explained, "You next Sasuke."

The Ninja in question grunted sourly, "Sasuke Uchiha, likes: my team, power. Dislikes: Orochimaru, my brother, the curse mark, pretty much everything not on my likes list, puppies and kittens included. My aim: To kill Itachi and Orochimaru and rebuild my clan."

_...disturbingly long dislike list, though the likes have improved, is showing loyalty to his team and strong dislike to Orochimaru, putting him in the same category as his brother. Unlikely to betray a second time but not out of the question._

"Sussinct," Kakashi noted cheerfully, ignoring the look of horror on Yamato's face when the 'dislike' section was read out, "Sakura, if you could please."

"I'm Hurano Sakura, the current apprentice of The Hokage and one of Konoha's better battle medics. My likes are my team, my family, Ino... I guess, flowers, Tsunade-sama and ninja tactics, my dislikes are morons, people who don't take menseriously and perverts... To a certain extent. My dream is to succeed Tsunade-sama as the greatest medic Nin in the villiage and to keep as many people alive as possible."

_Prudish and wants your job, lost her fangirl tendencies and only mentioned Sasuke as 'part of her team.'_

"Very nice Sakura, slightly more sane than the rest of us but we can work on that later!" rolling her eyes at her Sensei's attitude, Sakura sat down on the flood next to him, "If you could finish this off for us Sai?"

"Of course Kakashi Sempai. My name is Sai, and I'm a ninja of Konoha. I don't have any likes or dislikes, though I do find it interesting seeing how people react to things. I also find it calming to paint, I have no other dream but to serve the village."

"I see, well, thank you for that Sai. Let's get going guys, we have a fair way to go for our mission." Kakashi's voice was carefully neutral as he finally came to a conclusion about their newest team member, confirming his earlier assumption. The Jounin pushed the pad into a hidden seal on the bench, trusting ANBU to get it to the Hokage, and thinking of the implications of this new information.

_Root oprative._

* * *

Sasori walked quietly along the road, contemplating how the meeting would affect his plans with Orochimaru.

Since Deidara's capture the puppet master had found himself missing the blonde bastard, journeys were always more entertaining when he had someone to continouously mock. Without that luxury it was just tedious.

"How completely pointless..." the red head growled from his newly rebuilt Hiroko, "I've actually grown attatched to the annoying moron."

Continuing to walk in silence his thoughts turned to the mission, Deidara had known that this mission was coming up, and knowing him, he probably wasn't able to keep his mouths shut about it.

He chuckled mirthlessly, "I suppose it's good I brought reinforcements then."

* * *

"So what's the plan Kakashi-sensei? Beating Orochimaru's not going to be easy unless we have something great up our sleeves!" Naruto's enthusiastic tone belayed the seriousness of the situation, showing his belief in his 'genius' sensei.

With an eerily fake smile on his face Sai placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder in a friendly way, "Your observation skills astound me, obviously your intellegence must be proportional to your tiny dick."

There was a moment of total silence, as if even the animals were staring at Sai in a way to imply: 'what the hell?"

Sasuke's laughter broke the silence, the deep rich laugh booming out of the teen.

"Stop laughing teme, and let me go!" Naruto bellowed, trying to pull himself out of Sakura and Yamato's restricting grip.

"Only if you promise to not try and murder Sai!" The pinkette replied irritably.

"I refuse!" he growled back, before managing to break free of her grip and lunging at Sai.

"I think his overly aggressive attitude is overcompensating for something..." Sai deadpanned, dodging the irate blonde with a fake smile on his face.

"I've been saying that for years!" Sasuke exclaimed cheerfully, "That also was my reasoning about his huge chakra reserves."

"What, god felt sorry for him having a tiny penis and gave him alot of chakra to compensa-?" Sai's question was cut off at Naruto barrelled into him, knocking him to the ground with a surprised yelp.

"Well," Kakashi murmured cheerfully, "I think they're getting on wonderfully!"

Kabuto knelt before Orochimaru, his normal smile on his face as his leader finished explaining their plan.

"So we're clear then?" the sanke sannin asked, ending his monologue, "You are to take care of Sasori's partner, should he have one with him."

"Right," the silver haired traitor affirmed, "And I leave the puppet to you."


	12. Chapter 11 Three way face off

A/N: Guess who's back! Wrong, it's me.

Anywho, the newest chapter is up as you can see and I'm hoping you enjoy it! My writing output has been decreased significantly due to a series of unfortunate events. I hope I didn't keep you all waiting too long, if any of you were waiting at all! :P

Have fun kids.

-QED

* * *

Activation Seal, Chapter 11

"We're going on a little mission."

"Where to?"

"The east of the land of fire, a young Nara has given us a few surprises and he's on a mission there, we're going to incompasitate him for a bit."

"Please don't kill him..."

"Well, since you were so polite! It would be a shame to have to kill such fine young intellect wouldn't it?"

"However you choose to explain it to yourself, I just... I knew him in Konoha, he's... Nice."

"It's wonderful to know the villiage did so well in my absence."

* * *

The three opposing forces faced each other grimmly, each one waiting for the other sides to move with a cold patience, as if they had all the time in the world.

Sasori turned to Kisame and Itachi, his face blank.

"Do what you want with the others, I'm going after Orochimaru." he commanded.

"Do you wish us to stop people from interfering in your fight?" Itachi asked, his voice as empty as Sasori's expression.

"No, the chaos will make it easier for me to kill him, he was always much easier to distract than me." the redhead replied.

"This is going to be ALOT of fun." Kisame declared, pulling Samehada off his back.

"Try not to go overboard."

* * *

"Okay, this could have gone better." Orochimaru fomented dryly, " Having five S rank ninja's in the area was not part of the plan..."

"What's next Orochimaru-sama." his glasses wearing teammate asked, eyeing the Akatsuki group with apprehension.

"I'm guessing Sasori has been put in charge of the Akatsuki group, seeing as you were his spy, that probably means he'll come after me and the other two will distract the others..." the snake instructed irritably, "You join the fray and take out as many of the enemy as possible without dying, if anyone else try's to join the fight between Sasori and myself, let them, I intend to go all out."

"Understood."

* * *

"Alright, this may be slightly more dangerous than we originally thought." Kakashi muttered, his voice strained, "My main task here is to kill Orochimaru, the rest of you try and capture Kabuto. If any chances to kill any of the Akatsuki members show up, take them."

The rest of the group from Konoha nodded, each picking heir optimal opponents and praying that they didn't die.

"Team Seven, stay together, you're significantly more dangerous as a group, so no running off on your own." Kakashi instructed, while reaching up to free his Sharingan, "Sasuke, Naruto, due to the level out current enemies fight at, I'm authorising you to use you're releases, though if possible, only the lower levels please."

Both genuine nodded grimly.

"Sakura..." Sai asked quietly, turning to the The third member of Team Seven, "What did Kakashi-sempai mean by releases?"

As if to answer his question, Sasuke and Naruto's chakra signatures began to change, becoming denser, darker and giving off a malignant aura that chilled the root agent to the bone.

Turning to his new team mates, he saw the physical changes in his allies.

"Three years ago, during the Chunin exams, Sasuke was give the Curse Mark by Orochimaru, tha increased his strength significantly, though affected his mind in a less than pleasant way..." Sakura explained, "When we took Sasuke back from the bastard, Jiraiya-sensei found that it was impossible to remove the curse mark without killing Orochimaru first, so he did the next best thing."

"He sealed away the parts that altered my mind," Sasuke chuckled, the tomoe shaped marks across his skin seeming to pulse with dark energy, "It's rude to stare Sai."

Jerking his eyes from the Uchiha he looked at Naruto's even more striking transformation, "And... You..."

"Around the same time," Naruto literally growled from his one tailed cloak, his fang like teeth bared, "Ero-Sennin began training me in how to use the power of the nine-tails."

"Before, at the hotsprings, I told you I didn't feel anything at all..." Sai almost whispered, "Now I can say that I honestly do feel something."

Naruto looked at his newest ally, the ing his head quizzically, "What, fear? Hatred?"

"No..." The young artist replied, a small, but sincere smile on his face, "I feel pity for the enemy."

Sasuke and Naruto loomed at each other, their eye's wide with surprise, before grinning simoultaniously, the effect was rather creepy.

"I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Sasuke deadpanned.

"Looks like we're about to begin..." Yamato declared seeing the other two groups getting into their fighting stances.

* * *

Sasori sent a massive wave of Iron Sand at Orochimaru, his Sandaime puppet standing ready to defend it's master.

The snake Sanin dodged the first attack with ease, pushing chakra into his feet and blasting towards his former partner at ludicrous speed.

"Hello Ssssssasssori kun!" he hissed, elongating the word in his excitment, "Long time no ssssssee!"

The puppet puppetmaster smiled sweetly, while slamming the Sandaime into his slide, "Hello Oro, it has been a while hasn't it?"

Their conversation was interrupted as a chirping sound became apparent.

"Sorry to break up this heartfelt reunion," Kakashi declared sarcastically, while driving the Raikiri through Sasori's puppet, "but I thought it best to announce my presence."

"Rather a redundant tactic Kakashi-kun!" Orochimaru laughed, sending a bus sized snake after the silver haired Jounin.

"I agree, letting the enemy know when you're there?" Sasori added with a smirk, "Pointless."

"Normally true." Kakashi replied back, vaulting himself over the snake and towards Sasori, "Unless it's a distraction."

As he said this, his body began to crackle with electricity. Slamming into the redhead the lightning clone released, sending energy through his metallic components, superheating them.

"Clever..." Orochimaru commented, "Is that Jutsu one of your own?"

Walking out of the shadows, the real Kakashi chuckled darkly.

"No..." he replied, "But it's an A-rank clone technique that I had to reverse engineer from a concept a Kuno Nin once explained to me."

"Uggh..." Sasori grumbled, pulling himself off the floor, "That shock reached my heart..."

Shaking himself, the eternally young puppet user grinned, throwing off the tattered remains of his Akatsuki uniform, revealing his puppet body once more.

"I think it's a bit redundant to use just my self now, so I think I'll show you two my latest creations..." The redheads smile returned to it's normal, slightly dosey appearance, "You may recall that the pink haired Kunoichi destroyed roughly a third of my human puppets last time we fought, by using a combination of her strength and my grandmothers Ten Puppets..."

As he was talking the Sasori reached to his side, revealing a hiden compartment in his side, taking out two scrolls, he unrled them and placed them on the ground.

"The reason that Chiyo's puppets were able to best mine was very simple, they worked well together as a team." he explained quietly, "Using this new information I came up with... Some new ideas."

There was a poof of smoke and two rows of thirteen puppets were revealed to the two Konoha legends.

"Oro, Kakashi, let me intreduce you to my newest friends." he exclaimed jovioly.

"Red sand technique: performance of Twenty six comrades!"

* * *

Naruto looked around himself, trying to see through the chaos of the battle. Yamato and Sasuke were currently fighting Itachi, neither side givin any ground in the fight. Sakura and Sai on the other hand were in a three way duel with Kabuto and Kisame, trying to capture the spy without being gutted by the former Mizu Nin's huge blade. Somewhat unsurprisingly, this was proving to be difficult.

Deciding on his target, the blonde grinned ferally. Ignoring the burning sensation from the fox cloak, he pounced.

To say Kisame was enjoying the fight would be a gross understatement, Kisame wasreveling in the violence surroundig him in a way that only the truly psychotic can. Parrying, thrusting, slashing and especially shaving his opponents flesh and chakra, the blue skinned swordsman was so caught up with causing his enemies pain, he failed to notice several stone of enraged Jinchuriki hurtling towards him at speeds that would make a Kage whistle.

What he did notice was when Naruto colided with his side.

"Shit!" the Sharkman yelped, red, noxious chakra singeing him.

"What the hell!" Natuto bellowed in disbelief, "That should have killed you!"

"Yeah..." Kisame almost gurgled from his heap on the floor, "I get that alot."

The Akatsuki member pulled himself up slowly, using Samehada for balance. He stood unsteadily for a second, breathing deeply, before his usual grin returned.

"You pack a hell of a punch boy." he shouted, moving back into his fighting stance, "But now I'll show you why I was considered to be the second most dangerous man in the Villiage Hidden in the Mist!"

His words were punctuated by waves of chakra infused water blasting from the ground around the shark man towards Naruto, each one at least twice the height of the blonde, even in his Chakra cloak.

"This is going to be annoying..." he sighed resignedly, using the fox cloak to propel himself over the oncoming waves and straight at Kisame.

* * *

"Foolish little brother..." Itachi taunted, dodging Sasuke's punch before grabbing and propelling he other Uchiha into Yamato.

"You have gained strength Sasuke but not nearly enough to defeat me... Or my accomplice on that fateful play through the Uchiha district."

Sasuke and Yamato rolled to their feet, the darker Leaf-Nin glaring at his brother.

"What do you mean 'accomplice' traitor? You were the only one to kill our family!" Sasuke yelled, the curse Mark causing his voice to growl uncomciously.

Itachi pounced at his brother, kniconic him to the ground, and winding him. Leaning forward the older sibling smiled coldly, bring his mouth to his brothers ear.

"Not true Sasuke... But you will have to gain a lot more strength before I tell you about that."

Sasuke was frozen with fear as Itachi spoke, all the Rage at his brother palingenesis sinsignificantly to the feeling in his chest, he was in the presence of a monster.

The Itachi's smile turned to an expression of pain, a blade appeared between his ribs, straight through his solar plexus.

"You weren't just fighting Sasuke Itachi." Yamato stated grimly.

As he said this the traitor's body began to break apart, the Uchiha dissolving into a flock of ravens.

"Of that I am entirely aware."

* * *

'Shit' Kabuto thought angrily, dodging another ink construct of Sai's, 'These kid's are better than I thought..."

The traitor was currently winning the three way battle between the younger ninja, but he could feel the tide turning. While he had the skill to defeat both of the leaf ninja, his stamina was currently betraying him, He would have to act quickly if he wanted tostay a free man.

"Chakra disection blade." he growled, pouncing at Sakura, his hands coated in a thick blade of deadly energy.

Sakura barely managed to dodge the attack and her surprise over the directness of his strike left her open.

"Sorry Hurano-San, I can't let you go." Kabuto mumerred his smile polite as he pulled out six kunai and flung them at he young medic.

Sakura managed to block two of them, two more giving her small cuts. The final two struck her in her chest and leg.

"Each of my kanai is coated in a different poison, venom or occasionally a paralysing agent, seeing as four of them just broke your skin, I'm afraid your chances of survival are fairly low." Kabuto informed her jovially.

The spy turned to Sai, his glasses shining evilly, "It appears I only have you to deal with now!"

"Yes," Sai replied, drawing his Tanto, "I suppose you do."

* * *

Sasori's new puppets were dominating the battlefield, each of them working together perfectly to increase each others strengths.

"Well," the Sasori chuckled, a sarcastic smile on his face, "I'd say tha today's test was successful."

Kakashi watched from the tree he was hiding in with a dark look on his face, the plan to take out Sasori or Orochimaru while they concentrated on each other was going badly, currently the snake user was hiden somewhere underground and preparing his ace in the wholeto counter Sasori's.

"I suppose I had better do the too..." he whispered to himself.

Pulling his headband up, he revealed his Sharingan, and moved it into Mangekyo form, he also passed through the handsigns he had seen Sasuke use in their training session, his face set stoically.

When he had silently summoned the pixel Katana, the elite Jounin crouched, prepared to Laing himself into the fight as soon as his other opponent reappeared.

As if on cue, there was a rumbling from the ground, the earth trembling as a huge White snake shot from the ground.

It was around fifty feet long, and covered in shiny, bleach white scales, the entire creature looked deadly, and exuded an aura of fear and despair that would make a normal civilian throw up. None of this information mattered to Kakashi however, the thing that made him want to throw up was the things head.

Even snake shaped, and with his normally immaculate hair in a wild mess, Orohimaru's features still retained the superior smirk that always graced his face.

"What the hell have you done to yourself you traitor..." Kakashi hissed, his visible features twisted in discust at the creature who had once been from his villiage.

"I hope it was worth it you bastard." he breathed, leaping from the tree his Red eye almost glowing, "Because now I'm going to to kill you."


End file.
